SANS 


WILLIAMVl: 
AND  ANNE 
HABBERLEY 


IN  MEMORY  OF 
WILLIAM  C.  HABBERLEY 


— 


jjtf'r 


SHAKESPEARE  THE  BOY 


SHAKESPEARE   THE    BOY 


WITH  SKETCHES  OF 

THE    HOME    AND    SCHOOL   LIFE,    THE    GAMES 

AND  SPORTS,  THE  MANNERS,  CUSTOMS 

AND  FQLK-LORE   OF  THE    TIME 


BY 

WILLIAM  J.  ROLFE,  LITT.  D. 

ILLUSTRATED 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER   &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 
1896 


•s  • 

GIFT 


Copyright,  1896,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 
All  rights  reserved. 


R 


PREFACE 


Two  years  ago,  at  the  request  of  the  editors  of  the 
Youth's  Companion,  I  wrote  for  that  periodical  a  series  of 
four  familiar  articles  on  the  boyhood  of  Shakespeare.  It 
was  understood  at  the  time  that  I  might  afterwards  ex- 
pand them  into  a  book,  and  this  plan  is  carried  out  in  the 
present  volume.  The  papers  have  been  carefully  revised 
and  enlarged  to  thrice  their  original  compass,  and  a  new 
fifth  chapter  has  been  added. 

The  sources  from  which  I  have  drawn  my  material  are 
often  mentioned  in  the  text  and  the  notes.  I  have  been 
particularly  indebted  to  Halliwell-Phillipps's  Oiitlines  of 
the  Life  of  Shakespeare,.  Knight's  Biography  of  Shaksperc, 
Furnivall's  Introduction  to  the  "  Leopold  "  edition  of 
Shakespeare,  his  Babees  Book,  and  his  edition  of  Harri- 
son's Description  of  England,  Sidney  Lee's  Stratford-on- 
Avon,  Strutt's  Sports  and  Pastimes,  Brand's  Popular  An- 
tiquities, and  Dyer's  Folk- Lore  of  Shakespeare, 

I  hope  that  the  book  may  serve  to  give  the  young  folk 
some  glimpses  of  rural  life  in  England  when  Shakespeare 
was  a  boy,  and  also  to  help  them — and  possibly  their 
elders — to  a  better  understanding  of  many  allusions  in  his 
works. 

W.  J.  R. 
CAMBRIDGE,  June  10,  1896. 


M617414 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PART   I.— HIS   NATIVE   TOWN   AND    NEIGHBOR- 
HOOD    i 

WARWICKSHIRE 3 

WARWICK  CASTLE  AND  SAINT  MARY'S  CHURCH     .     .  4 

WARWICK  IN  HISTORY 8 

GUY  OF  WARWICK 9 

KENILWORTH  CASTLE 12 

COVENTRY 14 

CHARLECOTE  HALL 19 

STRATFORD-ON-AVON 24 

THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  STRATFORD 27 

THE  STRATFORD  GUILD 34 

THE  STRATFORD  CORPORATION 39 

THE  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  STRATFORD 43 

PART   II.— HIS   HOME   LIFE 47 

THE  DWELLING-HOUSES  OF  THE  TIME 49 

THE  HOUSEHOLD  FURNITURE 52 

FOOD  AND  DRINK , 57 

THE  TRAINING  OF  CHILDREN 60 

INDOOR  AMUSEMENTS 67 

POPULAR  BOOKS 71 

STORY-TELLING 73 

CHRISTENINGS 80 

SUPERSTITIONS  CONNECTED  WITH  BIRTH  AND  BAPTISM.  84 

CHARMS  AND  AMULETS 87 


vi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PART   III.— AT  SCHOOL 93 

THE  STRATFORD  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL 95 

WHAT  SHAKESPEARE  LEARNT  AT  SCHOOL    ....  99 

THE  NEGLECT  OF  ENGLISH 106 

SCHOOL  LIFE  IN  SHAKESPEARE'S  DAY no 

SCHOOL  MORALS 112 

SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE 113 

WHEN  WILLIAM  LEFT  SCHOOL  . 118 

PART    IV.— GAMES   AND   SPORTS 119 

BOYISH  GAMES 121 

SWIMMING  AND  FISHING 130 

BEAR-BAITING 132 

COCK-FIGHTING  AND  COCK-THROWING 136 

OTHER  CRUEL  SPORTS 139 

ARCHERY 142 

HUNTING .     .     ...     .     .  145 

FOWLING 151 

HAWKING 153 

THEATRICAL  ENTERTAINMENTS  ........  160 

PART  V.— HOLIDAYS,  FESTIVALS,  FAIRS,   ETC.  .  165 

SAINT  GEORGE'S  DAY 167 

EASTER .172 

THE  PERAMBULATION  OF  THE  PARISH 174 

MAY-DAY  AND  THE  MORRIS-DANCE     .     .          ...  176 

WHITSUNTIDE 184 

MIDSUMMER  EVE 186 

CHRISTMAS •    .  190 

SHEEP-SHEARING 193 

HARVEST-HOME 195 

MARKETS  AND  FAIRS .....  198 

RURAL  OUTINGS 207 

NOTES 213 

INDEX                                                  247 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


SHAKESPEARE  THE   BOY Frontispiece 

THE   SHAKESPEARE   BIRTHPLACE,  ABOUT    l82O 3 

WARWICK  CASTLE 5 

GATE-HOUSE   OF   KENILWORTH    CASTLE 13 

COVENTRY   CHURCHES   AND   PAGEANT.       ...  .    Facing  p.    14 

CHARLECOTE  HALL 2O 

ENTRANCE  TO  CHARLECOTE  HALL 22 

SIR   THOMAS   LUCY .       .  23 

STRATFORD   CHURCH Facing  p.    30 

STRATFORD    CHURCH,  WEST    END 32 

THE   GUILD    CHAPEL   AND    GRAMMAR    SCHOOL,   STRATFORD  .       .    35 

MAP— PLAN    OF   STRATFORD .42 

SHAKESPEARE   HOUSE,  RESTORED 49 

ROOM    IN  WHICH  SHAKESPEARE  WAS  BORN  ....    Facing  p.    50 
INTERIOR    OF   ANNE   HATHAWAY*S    COTTAGE       ...  "  56 

OLD    HOUSE    IN    HIGH    STREET .       .       .    5g 

ANNE  HATHAWAY'S  COTTAGE Facing  p.  64 

SHILLING   OF  EDWARD  VI 68 

ANCIENT   FONT  AT  STRATFORD 8 1 

PORCH,  STRATFORD   CHURCH Facing  p.    88 

INNER    COURT,  GRAMMAR   SCHOOL 95 


viii  ILL  US TRA  TIONS 

THE    SCHOOL-ROOM   AS   IT   WAS 97 

DESK    SAID   TO    BE   SHAKESPEARE'S IO2 

WALK    ON   THE   BANKS  OF   THE  AVON Facing  p.  112 

HIDE-AND-SEEK "  122 

"MORRIS"  BOARD 130 

FISHING  IN   THE  AVON Facing  p.  132 

THE   BEAR   GARDEN,  LONDON 133 

GARDEN   AT    NEW   PLACE Facing  p.  146 

ELIZABETH    HAWKING 155 

BOY   WITH   HAWK   AND   HOUNDS 159 

ITINERANT   PLAYERS   IN   A   COUNTRY   HALL      .       .       .    Facing  p.  l6o 

WILLIAM   KEMP   DANCING  THE  MORRIS 163 

THE   BOUNDARY    ELM 167 

MORRIS-DANCE Facing  p.  178 

CLOPTON   HOUSE  ON   CHRISTMAS   EVE "  190 

THE   FAIR "  2OO 

INTERIOR    OF    GRAMMAR     SCHOOL,     BEFORE     THE     RESTORA- 
TION          225 

CLOPTON   MONUMENTS Facing  p.  238 

THE   BAR-GATE,   SOUTHAMPTON 242 

AUTOGRAPH    OF    QUEEN    ELIZABETH 245 

ARMS   OF   JOHN  SHAKESPEARE 251 


SHAKESPEARE   THE    BOY 


PART  I 
HIS    NATIVE    TOWN    AND    NEIGHBORHOOD 


THE   SHAKESPEARE    BIRTHPLACE,    ABOUT    1820 


WARWICKSHIRE 

THE  county  of  Warwick  was  called  the  heart  of  Eng- 
land as  long  ago  as  the  time  of  Shakespeare.  Indeed, 
it  was  his  friend,  Michael  Drayton,  born  the  year  be- 
fore himself,  who  first  called  it  so.  In  his  Poly-Olbion 
(1613)  Drayton  refers  to  his  native  county  as  "That 
shire  which  we  the  heart  of  England  well  may  call." 
The  form  of  the  expression  seems  to  imply  that  it  was 
original  with  him.  It  was  doubtless  suggested  by  the 
central  situation  of  the  county,  about  equidistant  from 
the  eastern,  western,  and  southern  shores  of  the  island ; 
but  it  is  no  less  appropriate  with  reference  to  its  his- 
torical, romantic,  and  poetical  associations.  Drayton, 
whose  rhymed  geography  in  the  Poly-Olbion  is  rather 


4  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

prosaic  and  tedious,  attains  a  kind  of  genuine  inspira- 
tion when,  in  his  i3th  book,  he  comes  to  describe 

"  Brave  Warwick  that  abroad  so  long  advanced  her  Bear, 
By  her  illustrious  Earls  renowned  everywhere ; 
Above  her  neighboring   shires  which    always  bore  her 
head." 

The  verse  catches  something  of  the  music  of  the  thros- 
tle and  the  lark,  of  the  woosel  "  with  golden  bill "  and 
the  nightingale  with  her  tender  strains,  as  he  tells  of 
these  Warwickshire  birds,  and  of  the  region  with  "flow- 
ery bosom  brave  "  where  they  breed  and  warble ;  but 
in  Shakespeare  the  same  birds  sing  with  a  finer  music 
— more  like  that  to  which  we  may  still  listen  in  the 
fields  and  woodlands  along  the  lazy-winding  Avon. 


WARWICK    CASTLE    AND    SAINT    MARY  S    CHURCH. 

Warwickshire  is  the  heart  of  England,  and  the  coun- 
try within  ten  miles  or  so  of  the  town  of  Warwick  may 
be  called  the  heart  of  this  heart.  On  one  side  of  this 
circle  are  Stratford  and  Shottery  and  Wilmcote — the 
home  of  Shakespeare's  mother — and  on  the  other  are 
Kenilworth  and  Coventry. 

In  Warwick  itself  is  the  famous  castle  of  its  Earls — 
"that  fairest  monument,"  as  Scott  calls  it,  "of  ancient 
and  chivalrous  splendor  which  yet  remains  uninjured 
by  time."  The  earlier  description  written  by  the  vera- 
cious Dugdale  almost  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago 
might  be  applied  to  it  to-day.  It  is  still  "  not  only  a 
place  of  great  strength,  but  extraordinary  delight ;  with 
most  pleasant  gardens,  walls,  and  thickets  such  as  this 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  5 

part  of  England  can  hardly  parallel ;  so  that  now  it  is 
the  most  princely  seat  that  is  within  the  midland  parts 
of  this  realm." 

The  castle  was  old  in  Shakespeare's  day.  Caesar's 
Tower,  so  called,  though  not  built,  as  tradition  alleged, 
by  the  mighty  Julius,  dated  back  to  an  unknown  period  ; 


WARWICK    CASTLE 


and  Guy's  Tower,  named  in  honor  of  the  redoubted 
Guy  of  Warwick,  the  hero  of  many  legendary  exploits, 
was  built  in  1394.  No  doubt  the  general  appearance 
of  the  buildings  was  more  ancient  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury than  it  is  to-day,  for  they  had  been  allowed  to  be- 
come somewhat  dilapidated  ;  and  it  was  not  until  the 
reign  of  James  I.  that  they  were  repaired  and  embel- 


6  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

lished,  at  enormous  expense,  and  made  the  stately  for- 
tress and  mansion  that  Dugdale  describes. 

But  the  castle  would  be  no  less  beautiful  for  situa- 
tion, though  it  were  fallen  to  ruin  like  the  neighboring 
.  Kenilworth.  The  rock  on  which  it  stands,  washed  at 
its  base  by  the  Avon,  would  still  be  there,  the  park 
would  still  stretch  its  woods  and  glades  along  the  river, 
and  all  the  natural  attractions  of  the  noble  estate  would 
remain. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  the  youthful  Shakespeare  was 
familiar  with  the  locality.  Warwick  and  Kenilworth 
were  probably  the  only  baronial  castles  he  had  seen 
before  he  went  to  London  ;  and,  whatever  others  he 
may  have  seen  later  in  life,  these  must  have  continued 
to  be  his  ideal  castles  as  in  his  boyhood. 

It  is  not  likely  that  he  was  ever  in  Scotland,  and 
when  he  described  the  castle  of  Macbeth  the  picture 
in  his  mind's  eye  was  doubtless  Warwick  or  Kenilworth, 
and  more  likely  the  former  than  the  latter ;  for 

"  This  castle  hath  a  pleasant  seat ;  the  air 
Nimbly  and  sweetly  recommends  itself 
Unto  our  gentle  senses.     This  guest  of  summer, 
The  temple-haunting  martlet,  does  approve, 
By  his  loved  mansionry,  that  the  air 
Smells  wooingly  here ;  no  jutty,  frieze, 
Buttress,  nor  coign  of  vantage,  but  this  bird 
Hath  made  his  pendent  bed  and  procreant  cradle. 
Where  they  most  breed  and  haunt  I  have  observed 
The  air  is  delicate." 

Saint  Mary's  church  at  Warwick  was  also  standing 
then — the  most  interesting  church  in  Warwickshire  next 
to  Holy  Trinity  at  Stratford.  It  was  burned  in  1694, 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  ^ 

but  the  beautiful  choir  and  the  magnificent  lady  chapel, 
or  Beauchamp  Chapel,  fortunately  escaped  the  flames, 
and  we  see  them  to-day  as  Shakespeare  doubtless  saw 
them,  except  for  the  monuments  that  have  since  been 
added.  He  saw  in  the  choir  the  splendid  tomb  of 
Thomas  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  in  the  ad- 
jacent chapel  the  grander  tomb  of  Richard  Beauchamp, 
unsurpassed  in  the  kingdom  except  by  that  of  Henry 
VII.  in  Westminster  Abbey.  He  looked,  as  we  do,  on 
the  full-length  figure  of  the  Earl,  recumbent  in  armor 
of  gilded  brass,  under  the  herse  of  brass  hoops  also 
gilt ;  his  hands  elevated  in  prayer,  the  garter  on  his  left 
knee,  the  swan  at  his  head,  the  griffin  and  bear  at  his 
feet.  He  read,  as  we  read,  in  the  inscription  on  the  cor- 
nice of  the  sepulchre,  how  this  "  most  worshipful  knight 
decessed  full  christenly  the  last  day  of  April  the  year 
of  cure  Lord  God  1439,  ne  being  at  that  time  lieutenant 
general  and  governor  of  the  realm  of  Fraunce,"  and  how 
his  body  was  brought  to  Warwick,  and  "  laid  with  full 
solemn  exequies  in  a  fair  chest  made  of  stone  in  this 
church  "  on  the  4th  day  of  October — "  honoured  be  God 
therefor."  And  the  young  Shakespeare  looked  up,  as 
we  do,  at  the  exquisitely  carved  stone  ceiling,  and  at 
the  great  east  window,  which  still  contains  the  original 
glass,  now  almost  four  and  a  half  centuries  old,  with  the 
portrait  of  Earl  Richard  kneeling  in  armor  with  up- 
raised hands. 

The  tomb  of  "the  noble  Impe,  Robert  cf  Dudley," 
who  died  in  1584,  with  the  lovely  figure  of  a  child  seven 
or  eight  years  old,  may  have  been  seen  by  Shakespeare 
when  he  returned  to  Stratford  in  his  latter  years,  and 
also  the  splendid  monument  of  the  father  of  the  "  noble 
imp,"  Robert  Dudley,  the  great  Earl  of  Leicester,  who 


8  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

died  in  1588;  but  in  the  poet's  youth  this  famous  noble- 
man was  living  in  the  height  of  his  renown  and  pros- 
perity at  the  castle  of  Kenilworth  five  miles  away,  which 
we  will  visit  later. 

WARWICK    IN    HISTORY. 

Only  brief  reference  can  be  made  here  to  the  impor- 
tant part  that  Warwick,  or  its  famous  Earl,  Richard 
Neville,  the  "  King-maker,"  played  in  the  English  his- 
tory on  which  Shakespeare  founded  several  dramas, 
— the  three  Parts  of  Henry  VI.  and  Richard  III.  He 
is  the  most  conspicuous  personage  of  those  troublous 
times.  He  had  already  distinguished  himself  by  deeds 
of  bravery  in  the  Scottish  wars,  before  his  marriage 
with  Anne,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Richard  Beau- 
champ,  made  him  the  most  powerful  nobleman  in  the 
kingdom.  By  this  alliance  he  acquired  the  vast  estates 
of  the  Warwick  family,  and  became  Earl  of  Warwick, 
with  the  right  to  hand  down  the  title  to  his  descendants. 
The  immense  revenues  from  his  patrimony  were  aug- 
mented by  the  income  he  derived  from  his  various  high 
offices  in  the  state ;  but  his  wealth  was  scattered  with 
a  royal  liberality.  It  is  said  that  he  daily  fed  thirty 
thousand  people  at  his  numerous  mansions. 

The  Lady  Anne  of  Richard  III.,  whom  the  hero  of 
the  play  wooes  in  such  novel  fashion,  was  the  youngest 
daughter  of  the  King-maker,  born  at  Warwick  Castle  in 
1452.  Richard  says,  in  his  soliloquy  at  the  end  of  the 
first  scene  of  the  play  : — 

"  I'll  marry  Warwick's  youngest  daughter. 
What  though  I  kill'd  her  husband  and  her  father?" 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  g 

Her  husband  was  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  son  of 
Henry  VI.,  and  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Tewkesbury. 

The  Earl  of  Warwick  who  figures  in  2  Henry  IV. 
was  the  Richard  Beauchamp  already  mentioned  as  the 
father  of  Anne  who  became  the  wife  of  the  King-maker. 
He  appears  again  in  the  play  of  ffenry  V.,  and  also  in 
the  first  scene  of  Henry  VI.,  though  he  has  nothing  to 
say;  and,  as  some  believe,  he  (and  not  his  son)  is  the 
Earl  of  Warwick  in  the  rest  of  the  play,  in  spite  of  cer- 
tain historical  difficulties  which  that  theory  involves. 
In  2  Henry  IV.  (iii.  i.  66)  Shakespeare  makes  the  mis- 
take of  calling  him  "  Nevil  "  instead  of  Beauchamp. 

The  title  of  the  Warwick  earls  became  extinct  with 
the  death  of  the  King-maker  on  the  battle-field  of  Bar- 
net.  It  was  then  bestowed  on  George,  Duke  of  Clar- 
ence, who  was  drowned  in  the  butt  of  wine  by  order  of 
his  loving  brother  Richard.  It  then  passed  to  the  young 
son  of  Clarence,  who  is  another  character  in  the  play  of 
Richard  III.  He,  like  his  unfortunate  father,  was  long 
imprisoned  in  the  Tower,  and  ultimately  murdered  there 
after  the  farce  of  a  trial  on  account  of  his  alleged  com- 
plicity in  a  plot  against  Henry  VII.  The  subsequent 
vicissitudes  of  the  earldom  do  not  appear  in  the  pages 
of  Shakespeare,  and  we  will  not  refer  to  them  here. 

GUY    OF    WARWICK. 

The  dramatist  was  evidently  familiar  with  the  legen- 
dary renown  of  Warwick  as  well  as  its  authentic  history. 
Doubtless  he  had  heard  the  story  of  the  famous  Guy  of 
Warwick  in  his  boyhood;  and  later  he  probably  visited 
"  Guy's  Cliff,"  on  the  edge  of  the  town  of  Warwick, 
where  the  hero  is  said  to  have  spent  the  closing  years 


io  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

of  his  life.  Learned  antiquarians,  in  these  latter  days, 
have  proved  that  his  adventures  are  mythical,  but  the 
common  people  believe  in  him  as  of  old.  There  is  his 
"cave"  in  the  side  of  the  "cliff"  on  the  bank  of  the 
Avon,  and  his  gigantic  statue  in  the  so-called  chapel; 
and  can  we  not  see  his  sword,  shield,  and  breastplate, 
his  helmet  and  walking-staff,  in  the  great  hall  of  War- 
wick Castle  ?  The  breastplate  alone  weighs  more  than 
fifty  pounds,  and  who  but  the  mighty  Guy  could  have 
worn  it?  There  too  is  his  porridge-pot  of  metal,  hold- 
ing more  than  a  hundred  gallons,  and  the  flesh-fork  to 
match.  We  may  likewise  see  a  rib  and  other  remains 
of  the  famous  "dun  cow,"  which  he  slew  after  the  beast 
had  long  been  the  terror  of  the  country  round  about. 
Unbelieving  scientists  doubt  the  bovine  origin  of  these 
interesting  relics,  to  be  sure,  as  they  doubt  the  existence 
of  the  stalwart  destroyer  of  the  animal ;  but  the  vulgar 
faith  in  them  is  not  to  be  shaken. 

Of  Guy's  many  exploits  the  most  noted  was  his  con- 
flict with  a  gigantic  Saracen,  Colbrand  by  name,  who 
was  fighting  with  the  Danes  against  Athelstan  in  the 
tenth  century,  and  was  slain  by  Guy,  as  the  old  ballad 
narrates.  Subsequently  Guy  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  Holy  Land,  leaving  his  wife  in  charge  of  his  castle. 
Years  passed,  and  he  did  not  return.  Meanwhile  his 
lady  lived  an  exemplary  life,  and  from  time  to  time  be- 
stowed her  alms  on  a  poor  pilgrim  who  had  made  his 
appearance  at  a  secluded  cell  by  the  Avon,  not  far  from 
the  castle.  She  may  sometimes  have  talked  with  him 
about  her  husband,  whom  she  now  gave  up  as  lost,  as- 
suming that  he  had  perished  by  the  fever  of  the  East  or 
the  sword  of  the  infidel.  At  last  she  received  a  sum- 
mons to  visit  the  aged  pilgrim  on  his  death-bed,  when, 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  n 

to  her  astonishment,  he  revealed  himself  as  the  long- 
lost  Guy.  In  his  early  days,  when  he  was  wooing  the 
lady,  she  had  refused  to  give  him  her  hand  unless  he 
performed  certain  deeds  of  prowess.  These  had  not 
been  accomplished  without  sins  that  weighed  upon  his 
conscience  during  his  absence  in  Palestine ;  and  he 
had  made  a  vow  to  lead  a  monastic  life  after  his  return 
to  his  native  land. 

The  legend,  like  others  of  the  kind,  was  repeated  in 
varied  forms;  and,  according  to  one  of  these,  when 
Guy  came  back  to  Warwick  he  begged  alms  at  the  gate 
of  his  castle.  His  wife  did  not  recognize  him,  and  he 
took  this  as  a  sign  that  the  wrath  of  Heaven  was  not 
yet  appeased.  Thereupon  he  withdrew  to  the  cell  in 
the  cliff,  and  did  not  make  himself  known  to  his  wife 
until  he  was  at  the  point  of  death. 

Shakespeare  refers  to  Guy  in  Henry  VIII.  (v.  4.  22), 
where  a  man  exclaims,  "  I  am  not  Samson,  nor  Sir  Guy, 
nor  Colbrand";  and  Colbrand  is  mentioned  again  in 
King  John  (i.  i.  225)  as  "  Colbrand  the  giant,  that  same 
mighty  man." 

The  scene  of  Guy's  legendary  retreat  on  the  bank  of 
the  Avon  is  a  charming  spot,  and  there  was  certainly  a 
hermitage  here  at  a  very  early  period.  Richard  Beau- 
champ  founded  a  chantry  for  two  priests  in  1422,  and 
left  directions  in  his  will  for  rebuilding  the  chapel  and 
setting  up  the  statue  of  Guy  in  it.  At  the  dissolution 
of  the  monasteries  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  the  chapel 
and  its  possessions  were  bestowed  upon  a  gentleman 
named  Flammock,  and  the  place  has  been  a  private 
residence  ever  since,  though  the  present  mansion  was 
not  built  until  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
There  is  an  ancient  mill  on  the  Avon  not  far  from  the 


12  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

house,  commanding  a  beautiful  view  of  the  river  and 
the  cliff.  The  celebrated  actress,  Mrs.  Siddons,  lived 
for  some  time  at  Guy's  Cliff  as  waiting-maid  to  Lady 
Mary  Greatheed,  whose  husband  built  the  mansion. 

KENILWORTH    CASTLE. 

But  we  must  now  go  on  to  Kenilworth,  though  \ve 
cannot  linger  long  within  its  dilapidated  walls,  majestic 
even  in  ruin.  If,  as  Scott  says,  Warwick  is  the  finest 
example  of  its  kind  yet  uninjured  by  time  and  kept  up 
as  a  noble  residence,  Kenilworth  is  the  most  stupen- 
dous of  similar  structures  that  have  fallen  to  decay.  It 
was  ancient  in  Shakespeare's  day,  having  been  origi- 
nally built  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century.  Two 
hundred  years  later,  in  1266,  it  was  held  for  six  months 
by  the  rebellious  barons  against  Henry  III.  After  hav- 
ing passed  through  sundry  hands  and  undergone  divers 
vicissitudes  of  fortune,  it  was  given  by  Elizabeth  to 
Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester,  who  spent,  in  en- 
larging and  adorning  it,  the  enormous  sum  of  ,£60,000 
—three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  equivalent  to  at  least 
two  millions  now.  Scott,  in  his  novel  of  Kenilworth, 
describes  it,  with  no  exaggeration  of  romance — for  ex- 
aggeration would  hardly  be  possible — as  it  was  then. 
Its  very  gate-house,  still  standing  complete,  was,  as 
Scott  says,  "  equal  in  extent  and  superior  in  architect- 
ure to  the  baronial  castle  of  many  a  northern  chief"; 
but  this  was  the  mere  portal  of  the  majestic  structure, 
enclosing  seven  acres  with  its  walls,  equally  impreg- 
nable as  a  fortress  and  magnificent  as  a  palace. 

There  were  great  doings  at  this  castle  of  Kenilworth 
in  1575,  when  Shakespeare  was  eleven  years  old,  and  the 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  13 

good  people  from  all  the  country  roundabout  thronged 
to  see  them.  Then  it  was  that  Queen  Elizabeth  was 
entertained  by  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester,  and 
from  July  9th  to  July  2yth  there  was  a  succession  of 
holiday  pageants  in  the  most  sumptuous  and  elaborate 


GATE-HOUSE   OF    KENILWORTH    CASTLE 


style  of  the  time.  Master  Robert  Laneham,  whose  ac- 
curacy as  a  chronicler  is  not  to  be  doubted,  though  he 
may  have  been,  as  Scott  calls  him,  "  as  great  a  coxcomb 
as  ever  blotted  paper,"  mentions,  as  a  proof  of  the  earl's 
hospitality,  that  "  the  clock  bell  rang  not  a  note  all  the 
while  her  highness  was  there ;  the  clock  stood  also  still 


14  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

withal;  the  hands  stood  firm  and  fast,  always  pointing 
at  two  o'clock,"  the  hour  of  banquet !  The  quantity  of 
beer  drunk  on  the  occasion  was  320  hogsheads,  and  the 
total  expense  of  the  entertainments  is  said  to  have  been 
;£iooo  ($5000)  a  day. 

John  Shakespeare,  as  a  well-to-do  citizen  of  Stratford, 
would  be  likely  to  see  something  of  that  stately  show, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  took  his  son  William 
with  him.  The  description  in  the  Midsummer-Night's 
Dream  (ii.  i.  150)  of 

"a  mermaid  on  a  dolphin's  back 
Uttering  such  dulcet  and  harmonious  sounds 
That  the  rude  sea  grew  civil  at  her  song," 

appears  to  be  a  reminiscence  of  certain  features  of  the 
Kenilworth  pageant.  The  minstrel  Arion  figured  there, 
on  a  dolphin's  back,  singing  of  course ;  and  Triton,  in 
the  likeness  of  a  mermaid,  commanded  the  waves  to  be 
still ;  and  among  the  fireworks  there  were  shooting-stars 
that  fell  into  the  water,  like  the  stars  that,  as  Oberon 

adds, 

"shot  madly  from  their  spheres 
To  hear  the  sea-maid's  music." 

When  Shakespeare  was  writing  that  early  play,  with  its 
scenes  in  fairy-land,  what  more  natural  than  that  this 
youthful  visit  to  what  must  then  have  seemed  veritable 
fairy-land  should  recur  to  his  memory  and  blend  with 
the  creations  of  his  fancy  ? 

COVENTRY. 

The  road  from  Warwick  to  Kenilworth  is  one  of  the 
loveliest  in  England ;  and  that  from  Kenilworth  five 


COVENTRY    CHUKCHES   AND    PAGEANT 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  15 

miles  further  on  to  Coventry  is  acknowledged  to  be  the 
most  beautiful  in  the  kingdom  ;  yet  it  is  only  a  different 
kind  of  beauty  from  the  other,  as  that  is  from  the  beauty 
of  the  road  between  Warwick  and  Stratford. 

Till  you  reach  Kenilworth  you  have  all  the  varieties 
of  charming  rural  scenery — hill  and  dale,  field  and 
forest,  river-bank  and  village,  hall  and  castle  and  church, 
grouping  themselves  in  ever-changing  pictures  of  beauty 
and  grandeur;  and  now  you  come  to  a  straight  road  for 
nearly  five  miles,  bordered  on  both  sides  by  a  double 
line  of  stately  elms  and  sycamores,  as  impressive  in  its 
regularity  as  the  preceding  stretch  had  been  in  its  kalei- 
doscopic mutations. 

This  magnificent  avenue  with  its  over-arching  foliage 
brings  us  to  Coventry,  no  mean  city  in  our  day,  but  re- 
taining only  a  remnant  of  its  ancient  glory.  In  the 
time  of  Shakespeare  it  was  the  third  city  in  the  realm — 
the  "  Prince's  Chamber,"  as  it  was  called — unrivalled 
in  the  splendor  of  its  monastic  institutions,  "full  of  as- 
sociations of  regal  state  and  chivalry  and  high  events." 

In  1397  it  had  been  the  scene  of  the  famous  hostile 
meeting  between  Henry  Bolingbroke,  Duke  of  Hereford 
(afterwards  Henry  IV.),  and  Thomas  Mowbray,  Duke 
of  Norfolk,  which  Shakespeare  has  immortalized  in 
Richard  II.  Later  Henry  IV.  held  more  than  one 
parliament  here;  and  the  city  was  often  visited  and 
honored  with  many  marks  of  favor  by  Henry  VI.  and 
his  queen,  as  also  by  Richard  III.,  Henry  VII.,  Eliza- 
beth, and  James  I. 

Coventry,  moreover,  played  an  important  part  in  the 
history  of  the  English  Drama.  It  was  renowned  for 
the  religious  plays  performed  by  the  Grey  Friars  of  its 
great  monastery,  and  kept  up,  though  with  diminished 


16  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

pomp,  even  after  the  dissolution  of  their  establishment. 
It  was  not  until  1580  that  these  pageants  were  entirely 
suppressed ;  and  Shakespeare,  who  was  then  sixteen 
years  old,  may  have  been  an  eye-witness  of  the  latest 
of  them.  No  doubt  he  heard  stories  of  their  attractions 
in  former  times,  when,  as  we  are  told  by  Dugdale,  they 
were  "acted  with  mighty  state  and  reverence  by  the 
friars  of  this  house,  had  theatres  for  the  several  scenes, 
very  large  and  high,  placed  upon  wheels,  and  drawn  to 
all  the  eminent  parts  of  the  city  for  the  better  advan- 
tage of  spectators  ;  and  contained  the  story  of  the  New 
Testament  composed  into  old  English  rhyme."  There 
were  forty-three  of  these  ancient  plays,  performed  by  the 
monks  until,  as  Tennyson  puts  it, 

"  Bluff  Harry  broke  into  the  spence, 
And  turned  the  cowls  adrift." 

When  the  boy  Shakespeare  saw  them  —  if  he  did  see 
them — they  were  played  by  the  different  guilds,  or  as- 
sociations of  tradespeople.  Thus  the  Nativity  and  the 
Offering  of  the  Magi,  with  the  Flight  into  Egypt  and 
the  Slaughter  of  the  Innocents,  were  rendered  by  the 
company  of  Shearmen  and  Tailors ;  the  Smiths'  pag- 
eant was  the  Crucifixion ;  that  of  the  Cappers  was  the 
Resurrection  ;  and  so  on.  The  account-books  of  the 
guilds  are  still  extant,  with  charges  for  helmets  for 
Herod  and  gear  for  his  wife,  for  a  beard  for  Judas  and 
the  rope  to  hang  him,  etc.  In  the  accounts  of  the 
Drapers,  whose  pageant  was  the  Last  Judgment,  we 
find  outlays  for  a  "  link  to  set  the  world  on  fire,"  "  the 
barrel  for  the  earthquake,"  and  kindred  stage  "prop- 
erties." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  17 

In  the  books  of  the  Smiths  or  Armorers,  some  of  the 
charges  are  as  follows : — 

"Item,  paid  for  v.  schepskens  for  gods  cote  and  for 
makyng,  iiij. 

Item,  paid  for  mendyng  of  Herods  hed  and  a  myter 
and  other  thyngs,  us. 

Item,  paid  for  dressyng  of  the  devells  hede,  viii</. 

Item,  paid  for  a  pair  of  gloves  for  god,  ii</." 

The  most  elaborate  and  costly  of  the  properties  was 
"  Hell-Mouth,"  which  was  used  in  several  plays,  but 
specially  in  the  representation  of  the  Last  Judgment. 
This  was  a  huge  and  grotesque  head  of  canvas,  with 
vast  gaping  mouth  armed  with  fangs  and  vomiting 
flames.  The  jaws  were  made  to  open  and  shut,  and 
through  them  the  Devil  made  his  entrance  and  the  lost 
souls  their  exit.  The  making  and  repairing  of  this 
was  a  constant  expense,  and  frequent  entries  like  the 
following  occur  in  the  books  of  the  guilds : — 

"  Paide  for  making  and  painting  hell  mouth,  xii^/. 

Paid  for  keping  of  fyer  at  hell  mouthe,  \\i\d" 

Many  curious  details  of  the  actors'  dresses  have  come 
down  to  us.  The  representative  of  Christ  wore  a  coat 
of  white  leather,  painted  and  gilded,  and  a  gilt  wig. 
King  Herod  wore  a  mask  and  a  helmet,  sometimes  of 
iron,  adorned  with  gold  and  silver  foil,  and  bore  a  sword 
and  a  sceptre.  He  was  a  very  important  character,  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  blustered  and  raged  about  the 
stage  became  proverbial.  In  Hamlet  (Hi.  2.  16)  we 
have  the  expression,  "It  out-herods  Herod"  ;  and  in  the 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (ii.  i.  20),  "What  a  Herod  of 
Jewry  is  this !" 

All  the  actors  were  paid  for  their  services,  the  amount 
varying  with  the  importance  of  the  part.  The  same 


1  8  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

actor,  as  in  the  theatres  of  Shakespeare's  day,  often 
played  several  parts.  In  addition  to  the  payment  of 
money,  there  was  a  plentiful  supply  of  refreshments, 
especially  of  ale,  for  the  actors.  Pilate,  who  received 
the  highest  pay  of  the  company,  was  moreover  allowed 
wine  instead  of  ale  during  the  performance. 

Reference  has  been  made  above  to  the  "  lost  souls  " 
in  connection  with  Hell-Mouth.  There  were  also  "  saved 
souls,"  who  were  dressed  in  white,  as  the  lost  were  in 
black,  or  black  and  yellow.  There  is  an  allusion  to  the 
latter  in  Henry  V.  (ii.  3.  43),  where  the  flea  on  Bar- 
dolph's  rubicund  nose  is  compared  to  "  a  black  soul 
burning  in  hell-fire." 

The  Devil  wore  a  dress  of  black  leather,  with  a  mask, 
and  carried  a  club,  with  which  he  laid  about  him  vigor- 
ously. His  clothes  were  often  covered  with  feathers  or 
horsehair,  to  give  him  a  shaggy  appearance  ;  and  the 
traditional  horns,  tail,  and  cloven  feet  were  sometimes 
added. 

The  regular  time  for  these  religious  pageants  was 
Corpus  Christi  Day,  or  the  Thursday  after  Trinity  Sun- 
day, but  they  were  occasionally  performed  on  other 
days,  especially  at  the  time  of  a  royal  visit  to  Cov- 
entry, like  that  of  Queen  Margaret  in  1455.  Prince 
Edward  was  thus  greeted  in  1474,  Prince  Arthur  in 
1498,  Henry  VIII.  in  1510,  and  Queen  Elizabeth  in 


Shakespeare  has  other  allusions  to  these  old  plays 
besides  those  here  mentioned,  showing  that  he  knew 
them  by  report  if  he  had  not  seen  them. 

Historical  pageants,  not  Biblical  in  subject,  were  also 
familiar  to  the  good  people  of  Coventry  a  century  at 
least  before  the  dramatist  was  born.  "The  Nine  Wor- 


SPIAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  19 

thies,"  which  he  has  burlesqued  in  Lovis  Labour  V  Lost, 
was  acted  there  before  Henry  VI.  and  his  queen  in 
1455.  The  original  text  of  the  play  has  been  preserved, 
and  portions  of  Shakespeare's  travesty  seem  almost 
like  a  parody  of  it. 

But  we  must  not  linger  in  the,  shadow  of  the  "three 
tall  spires"  of  Coventry,  nor  make  more  than  a  brief 
allusion  to  the  legend  of  Godiva,  the  lady  who  rode 
naked  through  the  town  to  save  the  people  from  a  bur- 
densome tax.  It  was  an  old  story  in  Shakespeare's 
time,  if,  indeed,  it  had  not  been  dramatized,  like  other 
chapters  in  the  mythic  annals  of  the  venerable  city.  It 
has  been  proved  to  be  without  historical  foundation, 
being  mentioned  by  no  writer  before  the  fourteenth 
century,  though  the  Earl  who  figures  in  the  tale  lived 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century.  The  Bene- 
dictine Priory  in  Coventry,  of  which  some  fragments 
still  remain,  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by  him  in 
1043.  He  died  in  1057,  and  both  he  and  his  lady  were 
buried  in  the  porch  of  the  monastery. 

The  effigy  of  "  Peeping  Tom  "  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the 
upper  part  of  a  house  at  the  corner  of  Hertford  Street 
in  Coventry. 

Shakespeare  makes  no  reference  to  this  story  of  Lady 
Godiva,  though  it  was  probably  well  known  to  him. 


CHARLECOTE    HALL. 

Returning  to  Warwick,  and  travelling  eight  miles  on 
the  other  side  of  the  town,  we  come  to  Stratford.  By 
one  of  the  two  roads  we  may  take  we  pass  Charlecote 
Hall  and  Park,  associated  with  the  tradition  of  Shake- 


20  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

speare's  deer-poaching — a  fine  old  mansion,  seen  across 
a  breadth  of  fields  dotted  with  tall  elms. 

The  winding  Avon  skirts  the  enclosure  to  the  west. 
The  house,  which  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the 
Lucy  family  ever  since  the  days  of  Shakespeare,  stands 
at  the  water's  edge.  It  has  been  enlarged  in  recent 
times,  but  the  original  structure  has  undergone  no  ma- 
terial change.  It  was  begun  in  1558,  the  year  when 


CHARLECOTE    HALL 


Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne,  and  was  probably  finished 
in  1559.  It  took  the  place  of  a  much  older  mansion  of 
which  no  trace  remains,  the  ancestors  of  Sir  Thomas 
Lucy  having  then  held  the  estate  for  more  than  five 
centuries.  The  ground  plan  of  the  house  is  in  the  form 
of  a  capital  letter  E,  being  so  arranged  as  a  compli- 
ment to  the  Virgin  Queen  ;  and  only  one  out  of  many 
such  tributes  paid  her  by  noble  builders  of  the  time. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  21 

Over  the  main  door  are  the  royal  arms,  with  the  letters 
E.  R.,  together  with  the  initials  of  the  owner,  T.  L. 

Within  there  is  little  to  remind  one  of  the  olden  time, 
but  some  of  the  furniture  of  the  library, — chairs,  couch, 
and  cabinet  of  coromandel-wood  inlaid  with  ivory, — is 
said  to  have  been  presented  by  Elizabeth  to  Leicester 
in  1575,  and  to  have  been  brought  from  Kenilworth  in 
the  seventeenth  century.  There  is  a  modern  bust  of 
Shakespeare  in  the  hall. 

The  tradition  that  the  dramatist  in  his  youth  was 
guilty  of  deer-stealing  in  Sir  Thomas's  park  is  not  im- 
probable. Some  critics  have  endeavored  to  prove  that 
there  was  no  deer-park  at  Charlecote  at  that  time ;  but 
Lucy  had  other  estates  in  the  neighborhood,  on  some 
of  which  he  employed  game-keepers,  and  in  March, 
1585,  about  the  date  of  the  alleged  poaching,  he  intro- 
duced a  bill  into  Parliament  for  the  better  preservation 
of  game. 

The  strongest  argument  in  favor  of  the  tradition  is 
to  be  based  on  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  plays  that 
Shakespeare  had  a  grudge  against  Sir  Thomas,  and  car- 
icatured him  as  Justice  Shallow  in  Henry  IV.  and  The 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor.  The  reference  in  the  latter 
play  to  the  "  dozen  white  luces  "  on  Shallow's  coat  of 
arms  is  palpably  meant  to  suggest  the  three  luces,  or 
pikes,  in  the  arms  of  the  Lucys.  The  manner  in  which 
the  dialogue  dwells  on  the  device  indicates  that  some 
personal  satire  was  intended. 

It  should  be  understood  that  poaching  was  then  re- 
garded, except  by  the  victims  of  it,  as  a  venial  offence. 
Sir  Philip  Sidney's  May  Lady  calls  deer -stealing  "a 
prettie  service."  The  students  at  Oxford  were  the 
most  notorious  poachers  in  the  kingdom,  in  spite  of  laws 


22 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 


making  expulsion  from  the  university  the  penalty  of  de- 
tection. Dr.  Forman  relates  how  two  students  in  1573 
(one  of  whom  afterwards  became  Bishop  of  Worces- 
ter) were  more  given  to  such  pursuits  than  to  study ; 
and  one  good  man  lamented  in  later  life  that  he  had 
missed  the  advantages  that  others  had  derived  from 


ENTRANCE    TO   CHARLECOTE    HALL 


these  exploits,  which   he  believed   to  be   an  excellent 
kind  of  discipline  for  young  men. 

We  must  not  assume  that  Sir  Thomas  was  fairly  rep- 
resented in  the  character  of  Justice  Shallow.  On  the 
contrary,  he  appears  to  have  been  an  able  man  and 
magistrate,  and  very  genial  withal.  The  Stratford  rec- 
ords bear  frequent  testimony  to  his  judicial  services; 
and  his  attendance  on  such  occasions  is  generally 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 


coupled  with  a  charge  for  claret  and  sack  or  similar 
beverages.  It  is  rather  amusing  that  these  entries 
occur  even  when  he  is  sitting  in  judgment  on  tipplers. 
In  the  records  for  1558  we  read:  "Paid  for  wine  and 
sugar  when  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  sat  in  commission  for 
tipplers,  xx.</." 

That  he  was  a  good  husband  we  may  infer  from  the 
long  epitaph  of  his  wife  in  Charlecote  Church,  which, 

after  stating  that  she  died 
in  1595,  at  the  age  of  63, 
goes  on  thus  :  "  all  the  time 
of  her  life  a  true  and  faith- 
ful servant  of  her  good 
God  ;  never  detected  of  any 
crime  or  vice ;  in  religion 
most  sound ;  in  love  to  her 
husband  most  faithful  and 
true ;  in  friendship  most 
constant ;  to  what  in  trust 
was  committed  to  her  most 
secret;  in  wisdom  excelling ; 
in  governing  of  her  house 
and  bringing  up  of  youth 
in  the  fear  of  God  that  did 

converse  with  her,  most  rare  and  singular;  a  great 
maintainer  of  hospitality ;  greatly  esteemed  of  her  bet- 
ters, misliked  of  none  unless  of  the  envious.  When  all 
is  spoken  that  can  be  said,  a  woman  so  furnished  and 
garnished  with  virtue  as  not  to  be  bettered,  and  hardly 
to  be  equalled  by  any.  As  she  lived  most  virtuously, 
so  she  died  most  godly.  Set  down  by  him  that  best 
did  know  what  hath  been  written  to  be  true,  Thomas 
Lucy." 


SIR    THOMAS    LUCY 


24  SHAKESPEARE   THE   BOY 

The  author  of  this  beautiful  tribute  may  have  been 
a  severe  magistrate,  but  he  could  not  have  been  a 
Robert  Shallow  either  in  his  official  capacity  or  as  a 
man. 

STRATFORD-ON-AVON. 

Stratford  lies  on  a  gentle  slope  declining  to  the  Avon, 
whose  banks  are  here  shaded  by  venerable  willows, 
which  the  poet  may  have  had  in  mind  when  he  painted 
the  scene  of  poor  Ophelia's  death  : — 

"  There  is  a  willow  grows  aslant  a  brook, 
That  shows  his  hoar  leaves  in  the  glassy  stream." 

The  description  could  have  been  written  only  by  one 
who  had  observed  the  reflection  of  the  white  underside 
of  the  willow-leaves  in  the  water  over  which  they  hung. 
And  I  cannot  help  believing  that  Shakespeare  was 
mindful  of  the  Avon  when  in  far-away  London  he 
wrote  that  singularly  musical  simile  of  the  river  in  one 
of  his  earliest  plays,  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  so 
aptly  does  it  give  the  characteristics  of  the  Warwick- 
shire stream : 

"  The  current  that  with  gentle  murmur  glides, 
Thou  know'st,  being  stopp'd,  impatiently  doth  rage; 
But  when  his  fair  course  is  not  hindered, 
He  makes  sweet  music  with  the  enamell'd  stones, 
Giving  a  gentle  kiss  to  every  sedge 
He  overtaketh  in  his  pilgrimage  ; 
And  so  by  many  winding  nooks  he  strays, 
With  willing  sport,  to  the  wild  ocean. 
Then  let  me  go,  and  hinder  not  my  course : 
I'll  be  as  patient  as  a  gentle  stream, 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  25 

And  make  a  pastime  of  each  weary  step, 
Till  the  last  step  have  brought  me  to  my  love ; 
And  there  I'll  rest,  as,  after  much  turmoil, 
A  blessed  soul  doth  in  Elysium." 


The  river  cannot  now  be  materially  different  from 
what  it  was  three  hundred  years  ago,  but  the  town  has 
changed  a  good  deal.  I  fear  that  we  might  not  have 
enjoyed  a  visit  to  it  in  that  olden  time  as  we  do  in 
these  latter  days. 

It  is  not  pleasant  to  learn  that  the  poet's  father  was 
fined  for  maintaining  a  sterquinarium,  which  being 
translated  from  the  Latin  is  dung-heap,  in  front  of  his 
house  in  Henley  Street — now,  like  the  other  Stratford 
streets,  kept  as  clean  as  any  cottage-floor  in  the  town 
— and  we  have  ample  evidence  that  the  general  sani- 
tary condition  of  the  place  was  very  bad.  John  Shake- 
speare would  probably  not  have  been  fined  if  his  ster- 
quinarium had  been  behind  his  house  instead  of  be- 
fore it. 

Stratford,  however,  was  no  worse  in  this  respect  than 
other  English  towns.  The  terrible  plagues  that  devas- 
tated the  entire  land  in  those  "good  old  times"  were 
the  natural  result  of  the  unwholesome  habits  of  life 
everywhere  prevailing — everywhere,  for  the  mansions  of 
noblemen  and  the  palaces  of  kings  were  as  filthy  as  the 
hovels  of  peasants.  The  rushes  with  which  royal  pres- 
ence-chamber and  banquet-hall  were  strewn  in  place  of 
carpets  were  not  changed  until  they  had  become  too 
unsavory  for  endurance.  Meanwhile  disagreeable  odors 
were  overcome  by  burning  perfumes — of  which  practice 
we  have  a  hint  in  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  in  the  refer- 
ence to  "  smoking  a  musty  room." 


26  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

But  away  from  these  musty  rooms  of  great  men's 
houses,  and  the  foul  streets  and  lanes  of  towns,  field 
and  forest  and  river-bank  were  as  clean  and  sweet  as 
now.  The  banished  Duke  in  As  You  Like  It  may  have 
had  other  reasons  than  he  gives  for  preferring  life  in 
the  Forest  of  Arden  to  that  of  the  court  from  which  he 
had  been  driven ;  and  Shakespeare's  delight  in  out-of- 
door  life  may  have  been  intensified  by  his  experience 
of  the  house  in  Henley  Street,  with  the  reeking  pile  of 
filth  at  the  front  door. 

His  poetry  is  everywhere  full  of  the  beauty  and  fra- 
grance of  the  flowers  that  bloom  in  and  about  Strat- 
ford ;  and  the  wonderful  accuracy  of  his  allusions  to 
them — their  colors,  their  habits,  their  time  of  blossom- 
ing, everything  concerning  them — shows  how  thorough- 
ly at  home  he  was  with  them,  how  intensely  he  loved 
and  studied  them. 

»  Mr.  J.  R.  Wise,  in  his  Shakespeare,  His  Birthplace  and 
its  Neighbourhood,  says :  "  Take  up  what  play  you  will, 
and  you  will  find  glimpses  of  the  scenery  round  Strat- 
ford. His  maidens  ever  sing  of  '  blue-veined  violets,' 
and  *  daisies  pied,'  and  '  pansies  that  are  for  thoughts,' 
and  *  ladies'-smocks  all  silver-white,'  that  still  stud  the 
meadows  of  the  Avon.  ...  I  do  not  think  it  is  any  ex- 
aggeration to  say  that  nowhere  are  meadows  so  full  of 
beauty  as  those  round  Stratford.  I  have  seen  them  by 
the  riverside  in  early  spring  burnished  with  gold ;  and 
then  later,  a  little  before  hay-harvest,  chased  with  or- 
chises, and  blue  and  white  milkwort,  and  yellow  rattle- 
grass,  and  tall  moon-daisies  :  and  I  know  nowhere  wood- 
lands so  sweet  as  those  round  Stratford,  filled  with  the 
soft  green  light  made  by  the  budding  leaves,  and  paved 
with  the  golden  ore  of  primroses,  and  their  banks  veined 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  27 

with  violets.  All  this,  and  the  tenderness  that  such 
beauty  gives,  you  find  in  the  pages  of  Shakespeare; 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  painted  them  be- 
cause they  were  ever  associated  in  his  mind  with  all 
that  he  held  precious  and  dear,  both  of  the  earliest  and 
the  latest  scenes  of  his  life." 


THE    EARLY    HISTORY    OF    STRATFORD. 

Stratford  is  a  very  ancient  town.  Its  name  shows 
that  it  was  situated  at  &ford  on  the  Roman  street,  or 
highway,  from  London  to  Birmingham ;  but  whether  it 
was  an  inhabited  place  during  the  Roman  occupation 
is  uncertain.  The  earliest  known  reference  to  the  town 
is  in  a  charter  dated  A.D.  691,  according  to  which 
Egwin,  the  Bishop  of  Worcester,  obtained  from  Ethel- 
red,  King  of  Mercia,  "the  monastery  of  Stratford,"  with 
lands  of  about  three  thousand  acres,  in  exchange  for  a 
religious  house  built  by  the  bishop  at  Fladbury.  It  is 
not  improbable  that  Stratford  owes  its  foundation  to 
this  monastic  settlement.  Tradition  says  that  the  mon- 
astery stood  where  the  church  now  is ;  and,  as  else- 
where in  England,  the  first  houses  of  the  town  were 
probably  erected  for  its  servants  and  dependants.  These 
dwellings  were  doubtless  near  the  river,  in  the  street 
that  has  been  known  for  centuries  as  "  Old  Town." 

The  district  continued  to  be  a  manor  of  the  Bishop 
of  Worcester  until  after  the  Norman  Conquest  in  1066. 
According  to  the  Domesday  survey  in  1085,  its  territory 
was  "fourteen  and  a  half  hides,"  or  about  two  thou- 
sand acres.  It  was  of  smaller  extent  than  in  691,  be- 
cause the  neighboring  villages  had  become  separate 
manors.  The  inhabitants  were  a  priest,  who  doubtless 


28  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

officiated  in  the  chapel  of  the  old  monastery  (of  which 
we  find  no  mention  after  the  year  872),  with  twenty-one 
villeins  and  seven  bordarii,  or  cottagers.  The  families 
of  these  residents  would  make  up  a  population  of  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty.  "  Every  householder,  whether 
villein  or  cottager,  evidently  possessed  a  plough.  The 
community  owned  altogether  thirty-one  ploughs,  of  which 
three  belonged  to  the  bishop,  the  lord  of  the  manor.1' 
The  agricultural  produce  was  chiefly  wheat,  barley,  and 
oats.  A  water-mill  stood  by  the  river,  probably  where 
the  old  mill  now  is ;  and  there  the  villagers  were  obliged 
to  grind  all  their  corn,  paying  a  fee  for  the  privilege. 
In  1085  the  annual  income  from  the  mill  was  ten  shil- 
lings, but  the  bishop  was  often  willing  to  accept  eels  in 
payment  of  the  fees,  and  a  thousand  eels  were  then 
sent  yearly  to  Worcester  by  the  people  who  used  the 
mill. 

During  the  i2th  century  Stratford  appears  to  have 
made  little  progress.  Alveston,  now  a  small  village  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Avon,  seemed  likely  then  to  rival 
it  in  prosperity.  The  boundaries  of  the  Alveston  manor 
were  gradually  extended  until  they  reached  their  pres- 
ent limit  on  the  south  side  of  the  bridge  at  Stratford 
(at  that  time  a  rude  wooden  structure),  and  there  a 
little  colony  was  planted  which  was  known  until  after 
the  Elizabethan  period  as  Bridgetown. 

We  get  an  idea  of  the  life  led  by  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Stratford  and  its  vicinity  in  the  i2th  and 
i3th  centuries  from  the  ecclesiastical  records  of  the 
various  services  and  payments  rendered  as  rent.  Many 
of  the  large  estates  outside  of  the  town  had  been  let  as 
"  knight's  fees,"  that  is,  on  condition  of  certain  military 
services  to*be  performed  by  the  holders.  Some  of  the 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  29 

villeins  within  the  village  had  become  "free  tenants," 
or  free  from  serfdom,  and  were  permitted  to  cultivate 
their  land  as  they  pleased  on  payment  of  a  fixed  rental 
in  money,  with  little  or  no  labor  service  in  addition. 
But  most  of  the  inhabitants  were  still  villeins  or  cot- 
tagers, from  whom  labor  service  was  regularly  exacted. 
"  Villeins  who  owned  sixty  acres  had  to  supply  two  men 
for  reaping  the  lord's  fields,  and  cottagers  with  thirty 
acres  supplied  one.  On  a  special  day  an  additional 
reaping  service  was  to  be  performed  by  villeins  and  cot- 
tagers with  all  their  families  except  their  wives  and 
shepherds.  Each  of  the  free  tenants  had  then  also  to 
find  a  reaper,  and  to  direct  the  reaping  himself.  .  .  . 
The  villein  was  to  provide  two  carts  for  the  conveyance 
of  the  corn  to  the  barns,  and  every  cottager  who  owned 
a  horse  provided  one  cart,  for  the  use  of  which  he  was 
to  receive  a  good  morning  meal  of  bread  and  cheese- 
One  day's  hoeing  was  expected  of  the  villein  and  three 
days'  ploughing,  and  if  an  additional  day  were  called 
for,  food  was  supplied  free  to  the  workers.  .  .  .  No 
villein  nor  cottager  was  allowed  to  bring  up  his  child 
for  the  church  without  permission  of  the  lord  of  the 
manor.  A  fee  had  to  be  paid  when  a  daughter  of  a 
villein  or  cottager  was  married.  On  his  death  his  best 
wagon  was  claimed  by  the  steward  in  his  lord's  behalf, 
and  a  fine  of  money  was  exacted  from  his  successor — 
if,  as  the  record  wisely  adds,  he  could  pay  one.  Any 
townsman  who  made  beer  for  sale  paid  for  the  priv- 
ilege." 

In  1197  the  inhabitants  obtained  for  the  town  from 
Richard  I.  the  privilege  of  a  weekly  market,  to  be  holclen 
on  Thursdays,  for  which  the  citizens  paid  the  bishop  a 
yearly  toll  of  sixteen  shillings.  The  market  was  doubt- 


30  SHAKESPEARE   THE   BOY 

less  held  at  first  in  the  open  space  still  known  as  the 
Rother  Market,  in  the  centre  of  which  the  Memorial 
Fountain,  the  gift  of  Mr.  George  W.  Childs  of  Philadel- 
phia, now  stands.  Rother  is  an  old  word,  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  origin,  applied  to  cattle,  which  must  have  been  a 
staple  commodity  in  the  early  Stratford  market.  The 
term  was  familiar  to  Shakespeare,  who  uses  it  in  Timon 
of  Athens  (iv.  3.  12) : — 

"  It  is  the  pasture  lards  the  rother's  sides, 
The  want  that  makes  him  lean." 

In  the  course  of  the  nth  century  Stratford  was  also 
endowed  with  a  series  of  annual  fairs,  "  the  chief  stimu- 
lants of  trade  in  the  middle  ages."  The  earliest  of 
these  fairs  was  granted  by  the  Bishop  of  Worcester  in 
1216,  to  begin  "on  the  eve  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  to 
continue  for  the  next  two  days  ensuing."  In  1224  a 
fair  was  established  for  the  eve  of  St.  Augustine  (May 
26th)  "  and  on  the  day  and  morrow  after";  in  1242,  for 
the  eve  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross  (Septem- 
ber 1 4th),  "the  day,  and  two  days  following";  and  in 
1271,  "for  the  eve  of  the  Ascension  of  our  Lord,  com- 
monly called  Holy  Thursday,  and  upon  the  day  and 
morrow  following."  Early  in  the  next  century  (1313) 
another  fair  was  instituted,  to  begin  on  the  eve  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul  (June  29th)  and  to  be  held  for  fifteen 
days. 

Trinity  Sunday  was  doubtless  chosen  for  the  open- 
ing of  the  first  of  these  fairs  because  the  parish  church 
was  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  a  festival  in 
commemoration  of  the  dedication  of  the  church  was 
celebrated  on  that  Sunday  by  a  "  wake,"  which  attracted 


STRATFORD  CHURCH 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  31 

many  people  from  the  neighboring  villages.  "  There 
was  nothing  exceptional  in  a  Sunday  of  specially  sacred 
character  being  turned  to  commercial  uses.  In  most 
medieval  towns,  moreover,  traders  exposed  their  wares 
at  fair-time  in  the  churchyard,  and  chaffering  and  bar- 
gaining were  conducted  in  the  church  itself."  Attempts 
were  made  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  to  restrain 
these  practices,  but  they  continued  until  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

At  the  close  of  the  i3th  century  the  prosperity  of 
Stratford  was  assured.  Alveston  had  then  ceased  to  be 
a  dangerous  rival.  The  town  was  more  and  more  profit- 
able to  the  Bishops  of  Worcester,  who  interested  them- 
selves in  promoting  its  welfare.  It  appears  also  that 
Bishop  Gifford  had  a  park  here  ;  for  on  the  3d  of  May, 
1280,  he  sent  his  injunctions  to  the  deans  of  Stratford 
and  the  adjacent  towns  "  solemnly  to  excommunicate 
all  those  that  had  broke  his  park  and  stole  his  deer." 

In  the  1 4th  century  the  condition  of  the  Stratford 
folk  materially  improved.  Villeinage  gradually  disap- 
peared in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  (1327-1377),  and 
those  who  had  been  subject  to  it  became  free  tenants, 
paying  definite  rents  for  house  and  land.  Three  na- 
tives of  the  town,  who,  after  the  fashion  of  the  time, 
took  their  surnames  from  the  place  of  their  birth,  rose 
to  high  positions  in  the  Church,  one  becoming  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  the  others  respectively 
Bishops  of  London  and  Chichester.  John  of  Stratford 
and  Robert  of  Stratford  were  brothers,  and  Ralph  of 
Stratford  was  their  nephew.  John  and  Robert  were 
both  for  a  time  Chancellors  of  England,  and  there  is  no 
other  instance  of  two  brothers  attaining  that  high  office 
in  succession. 


32  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

All  three  had  a  great  affection  for  their  native  town, 
and  did  much  to  promote  its  welfare.  Robert,  while 
holding  the  living  of  Stratford,  took  measures  for  the 


STRATFORD   CHURCH,   WEST   END 


paving  of  some  of  the  main  streets.  John  enlarged  the 
parish  church,  rebuilding  portions  of  it,  and  founded 
a  chantry  with  five  priests  to  perform  masses  for  the 
souls  of  the  founder  and  his  friends.  Later  he  pur- 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  33 

chased  the  patronage  of  Stratford  from  the  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  and  gave  it  to  his  chantry  priests,  who  thus 
came  into  full  control  of  the  parish  church.  Ralph,  in 
1351,  built  for  the  chantry  priests  "a  house  of  square 
stone  for  the  habitation  of  these  priests,  adjoining  to 
the  churchyard."  This  building,  afterwards  known  as 
the  College,  remained  in  possession  of  the  priests  until 
1546,  when  Henry  VIII.  included  it  in  the  dissolution 
of  monastic  establishments.  After  passing  through  va- 
rious hands  as  a  private  residence,  it  was  finally  taken 
down  in  1799. 

Other  inhabitants  of  Stratford  followed  the  example 
set  by  John  and  Ralph  in  their  benefactions  to  the 
church.  Dr.  Thomas  Bursall,  warden  of  the  College  in 
the  time  of  Edward  IV.,  added  "  a  fair  and  beautiful 
choir,  rebuilt  from  the  ground  at  his  own  cost" — the 
choir  which  is  still  the  most  beautiful  portion  of  the 
venerable  edifice,  and  in  which  Shakespeare  lies  buried. 

The  only  important  alteration  in  the  church  since 
Shakespeare's  day  was  the  erection  of  the  present  spire 
in  1764,  to  replace  a  wooden  one  covered  with  lead  and 
about  forty  feet  high,  which  had  been  taken  down  a 
year  before.  The  tower  is  the  oldest  part  of  the  church 
as  it  now  exists,  and  was  probably  built  before  the  year 
1200.  It  is  eighty  feet  high,  to  which  the  spire  adds 
eighty-three  feet  more. 

The  last  of  the  early  benefactors  of  Stratford  was 
Sir  Hugh  Clopton,  who  came  from  the  neighboring  vil- 
lage of  Clopton  about  1480.  A  few  years  later  he  built 
"  a  pretty  house  of  brick  and  timber  wherein  he  lived 
in  his  latter  days."  This  was  the  mansion  afterwards 
known  as  New  Place,  which  in  1597  became  the  prop- 
erty of  William  Shakespeare,  and  was  his  residence 


34  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

after  he  returned   to   his  native   town    about    1611   or 
1612. 

Sir  Hugh  also  built  "  the  great  bridge  upon  the  Avon, 
at  the  east  end  of  the  town,"  constructed  of  freestone, 
with  fourteen  arches,  and  a  "long  causeway"  of  stone, 
"well  walled  on  each  side."  .  .  .  Before  this  time,  as 
Leland  the  antiquarian  wrote  about  1530,  "there  was 
but  a  poor  bridge  of  timber,  and  no  causeway  to  come 
to  it,  whereby  many  poor  folk  either  refused  to  come  to 
Stratford  when  the  river  was  up,  or  coming  thither 
stood  in  jeopardy  of  life."  This  bridge,  though  often 
repaired,  is  to  this  day  a  monument  to  Sir  Hugh's  pub- 
lic spirit. 

THE    STRATFORD    GUILD. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  i3th  century  an  institution 
attained  a  position  and  influence  in  Stratford  which 
were  destined  to  deprive  the  Bishops  of  Worcester  of 
their  authority  in  the  government  of  the  town.  This 
was  the  Guild  of  the  Holy  Cross,  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
and  St.  John  the  Baptist,  as  it  was  then  called.  The 
triple  name  has  suggested  that  it  was  formed  by  the 
union  of  three  separate  guilds,  but  of  this  no  historical 
evidence  has  been  discovered. 

This  guild,  like  other  of  these  ancient  societies,  had 
a  religious  origin,  being  "  collected  for  the  love  of  God 
and  our  souls'  need"  ;  but  relief  of  the  poor  and  of  its 
own  indigent  members  was  also  a  part  of  its  functions. 

The  "  craft-guilds,"  formed  by  people  engaged  in  a 
single  trade  or  occupation,  were  a  different  class  of  so- 
cieties, though  in  many  instances  offshoots  from  the  re- 
ligious guilds,  and  often,  as  in  London,  surviving  the 
decay  of  the  parent  institution. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 


35 


Members  of  both  sexes  were  admitted  to  the  Strat- 
ford Guild,  as  to  others  of  its  class,  on  payment  of  a 
small  annual  fee.  "This  primarily  secured  for  them 


THE   GUILD   CHAPEL    AND   GRAMMAR    SCHOOL,   STRATFORD 


the  performance  of  certain  religious  rites,  which  were 
more  valued  than  life  itself.  While  the  members  lived, 
but  more  especially  after  their  death,  lighted  tapers 
were  duly  distributed  in  their  behalf,  before  the  altars  of 


36  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

the  Virgin  and  of  their  patron  saints  in  the  parish 
church.  A  poor  man  in  the  Middle  Ages  found  it  very 
difficult,  without  the  intervention  of  the  guilds,  to  keep 
this  road  to  salvation  always  open.  Gifts  were  fre- 
quently awarded  to  members  anxious  to  make  pilgrim- 
ages to  Canterbury,  and  at  times  the  spinster  members 
received  dowries  from  the  association.  The  regulation 
which  compelled  the  members  to  attend  the  funeral  of 
any  of  their  fellows  united  them  among  themselves  in 
close  bonds  of  intimacy." 

The  social  spirit  was  fostered  yet  more  by  a  great 
annual  meeting,  at  which  all  members  were  expected 
to  be  present  in  special  uniform.  They  marched  with 
banners  flying  in  procession  to  church,  and  afterwards 
sat  down  together  to  a  generous  feast. 

Though  of  religious  origin  the  guilds  were  strictly 
lay  associations.  In  many  towns  priests  were  excluded 
from  membership ;  if  admitted,  they  had  no  more  au- 
thority or  influence  than  laymen.  Priests  were  em- 
ployed to  perform  the  religious  services  of  the  guild, 
for  which  they  were  duly  paid  ;  but  the  fraternities  were 
governed  by  their  own  elected  officers — wardens,  alder- 
men, beadles,  and  clerks — and  a  council  of  their  repre- 
sentatives controlled  their  property  and  looked  after 
their  rights. 

When  the  Stratford  Guild  was  founded  it  is  impos- 
sible to  determine.  "  Its  beginning,"  as  its  chief  offi- 
cers wrote  in  1389,  "was  from  time  whereunto  the  mem- 
ory of  man  reacheth  not."  Records  preserved  in  the 
town  prove  that  it  was  in  existence  early  in  the  i3th 
century,  and  that  bequests  were  then  made  to  it.  The 
Bishops  of  Worcester  encouraged  such  gifts,  and  appar- 
ently managed  that  some  of  the  revenues  of  the  Guild 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  37 

should  be  devoted  to  ecclesiastical  purposes  outside 
its  own  regular  uses.  Before  the  time  of  Edward  I. 
the  society  was  rich  in  houses  and  lands ;  and  in  1353, 
as  its  records  show,  it  owned  a  house  in  almost  every 
street  in  Stratford. 

In  1296  the  elder  Robert  of  Stratford,  father  of  John 
and  Robert  (p.  31),  laid  the  foundation  of  a  special 
chapel  for  the  Guild,  and  also  of  adjacent  almshouses. 
These  doubtless  stood  where  the  present  chapel,  Guild- 
hall, and  other  fraternfty  buildings  now  are. 

In  1332  Edward  III.  gave  the  Guild  a  charter  con- 
firming its  right  to  all  its  property  and  to  the  full  control 
of  its  own  affairs.  In  1389  Richard  II.  sent  out  com- 
missioners to  report  upon  the  ordinances  of  the  guilds 
.throughout  England,  and  the  report  for  Stratford  is  still 
extant.  It  shows  what  a  good  work  the  society  was 
doing  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  for  the  promotion 
of  fraternal  relations  among  its  members.  Regulations 
for  the  government  of  the  Guild  by  two  wardens  or 
aldermen  and  six  others  indicate  the  progress  of  the 
town  in  the  direction  of  self-government.  An  associa- 
tion which  had  come  to  include  all  the  substantial  house- 
holders naturally  acquired  much  jurisdiction  in  civil 
affairs.  Its  members  referred  their  disputes  with  one 
another  to  its  council;  and  the  aldermen  gradually  be- 
came the  administrators  of  the  municipal  police.  The 
College  priests  were  very  jealous  of  the  Guild's  increas- 
ing influence,  and  when  the  society  resisted  the  pay- 
ment of  tithes  they  brought  a  lawsuit  to  compel  the 
fulfilment  of  this  ancient  obligation ;  but  in  all  other 
respects  the -Guild  appears  to  have  been  independent 
of  external  control. 

A  curious  feature  of  the  conditions  of  membership  in 


38  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

the  1 5th  century  was  that  the  souls  of  the  dead  could 
be  admitted  to  its  spiritual  privileges  on  payment  of  the 
regular  fees  by  the  living.  Early  in  the  century  six  dead 
children  of  John  Whittington  of  Stratford  were  allowed 
this  benefit  for  the  sum  of  ten  shillings. 

The  fame  of  the  institution  in  its  palmy  days  spread 
far  beyond  the  limits  of  Stratford,  and  attracted  not 
a  few  men  of  the  highest  rank  and  reputation.  George, 
Duke  of  Clarence,  brother  of  Edward  IV.,  and  his  wife, 
were  enrolled  among  its  members,  with  Edward  Lord 
Warwick  and  Margaret,  two  of  their  children ;  and  the 
distinguished  judge,  Sir  Thomas  Lyttleton,  received  the 
same  honor.  Few  towns  or  villages  of  Warwickshire 
were  without  representation  in  it,  and  merchants  joined 
it  from  places  as  far  away  as  Bristol  and  Peterborough. 

To  us,  however,  the  most  remarkable  fact  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Guild  is  the  establishment  of  the  Grammar 
School  for  the  children  of  its  members.  The  date  of 
its  foundation  has  been  usually  given  as  1453,  but  it  is 
now  known  to  have  been  in  existence  before  that  time. 
Attendance  was  free,  and  the  master,  who  was  paid  ten 
pounds  a  year  by  the  Guild,  was  forbidden  to  take  any- 
thing from  the  pupils.  In  this  school,  as  we  shall  see 
later,  William  Shakespeare  was  educated,  and  we  shall 
become  better  acquainted  with  it  when  we  follow  the 
boy  thither. 

The  Guild  Chapel,  with  the  exception  of  the  chancel, 
which  had  been  renovated  about  1450,  was  taken  down 
and  rebuilt  in  the  closing  years  of  the  century  by  Sir 
Hugh  Clopton  (see  page -34  above),  who  was  a  promi- 
nent member ,of  the  fraternity.  The  work  was  not  fin- 
ished until  after  his  death  in  September,  1496,  but  the 
expense  of  its  completion  was  provided  for  in  his  will. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  39 

THE   STRATFORD   CORPORATION. 

The  Guild  was  dissolved  by  Henry  VIII.  in  1547, 
and  its  possessions  remained  as  crown  property  until 
1553.  For  seven  years  the  town  had  been  without  any 
responsible  government.  Meanwhile  the  leading  citi- 
zens—  the  old  officers  of  the  Guild  —  had  petitioned 
Edward  VI.  to  restore  that  society  as  a  municipal  cor- 
poration. He  granted  their  prayer,  and  by  a  charter 
dated  June  7,  1553,  put  the  government  of  the  town  in 
the  hands  of  its  inhabitants.  The  estates,  revenues,  and 
chattels  of  the  Guild  were  made  over  to  the  corpora- 
tion, which,  as  the  heir  and  successor  of  the  venerable 
fraternity,  adopted  the  main  features  of  its  organization. 
The  names  and  functions  of  its  chief  officers  were  but 
slightly  changed.  The  warden  became  the  bailiff,  and 
the  proctors  were  called  chamberlains,  but  aldermen, 
clerk,  and  beadle  resumed  their  old  titles.  The  com- 
mon council  continued  to  meet  monthly  in  the  Guild- 
hall ;  but  it  now  included,  besides  the  bailiff  and  ten 
aldermen,  the  ten  chief  burgesses,  and  its  authority  cov- 
ered the  whole  town.  The  fraternal  sentiment  of  the 
ancient  society  survived ;  it  being  ordered  "  that  none 
of  the  aldermen  nor  none  of  the  capital  burgesses, 
neither  in  the  council  chamber  nor  elsewhere,  do  revile 
one  another,  but  brother-like  live  together,  and  that  after 
they  be  entered  into  the  council  chamber,  that  they  nor 
none  of  them  depart  not  forth  but  in  brotherly  love, 
under  the  pains  of  every  offender  to  forfeit  and  pay  for 
every  default,  v')s.  viijrt'."  When  any  councillor  or  his 
wife  died,  all  were  to  attend  the  funeral  "  in  their  honest 
apparel,  and  bring  the  corpse  to  the  church,  there  to  con- 
tinue and  abide  devoutly  until  the  corpse  be  buried." 


40  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

The  Grammar  School  and  the  chapel  and  almshouses 
of  the  Guild  became  public  institutions.  The  bailiff 
became  a  magistrate  who  presided  at  a  monthly  court 
for  the  recovery  of  small  debts,  and  at  the  higher  semi- 
annual leets,  or  court-leets,  to  which  all  the  inhabitants 
were  summoned  to  revise  and  enforce  the  police  reg- 
ulations. Shakespeare  alludes  to  these  leets  in  The 
Taming  of  the  Shrew  (ind.  2.  89)  where  the  servant  tells 
Kit  Sly  that  he  has  been  talking  in  his  sleep : — 

"  Yet  would  you  say  ye  were  beaten  out  of  door, 
And  rail  upon  the  mistress  of  the  house, 
And  say  you  would  present  her  at  the  leet 
Because  she  brought  stone  jugs  and  no  seal'd  quarts." 

And  lago  (Othello,  iii.  3.  140)  refers  to  "leets  and  law- 
days."  Prices  of  bread  and  beer  were  fixed  by  the 
council,  and  ale-tasters  were  annually  appointed  to  see 
that  the  orders  concerning  the  quality  and  price  of  malt 
liquors  and  bread  were  enforced.  Shakespeare's  father 
was  an  ale-taster  in  1557,  and  about  the  same  time  was 
received  into  the  corporation  as  a  burgess.  In  1561  he 
was  elected  as  one  of  the  two  chamberlains  ;  in  1565  he 
became  an  alderman  ;  and  in  1568  he  was  chosen  bailiff, 
the  highest  official  position  in  the  town. 

The  rule  of  the  council  was  of  a  very  paternal  char- 
acter. "  If  a  man  lived  immorally  he  was  summoned  to 
the  Guildhall,  and  rigorously  examined  as  to  the  truth 
of  the  rumors  that  had  reached  the  bailiff's  ear.  If  his 
guilt  was  proved,  and  he  refused  to  make  adequate 
reparation,  he  was  invited  to  leave  the  town.  Rude 
endeavors  were  made  to  sweeten  the  tempers  of  scold- 
ing wives.  A  substantial  'ducking-stool,'  with  iron 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  41 

staples,  lock,  and  hinges,  was  kept  in  good  repair.  The 
shrew  was  attached  to  it,  and  by  means  of  ropes,  planks, 
and  wheels  was  plunged  two  or  three  times  into  the 
Avon  whenever  the  municipal  council  believed  her  to 
stand  in  need  of  correction.  Three  days  and  three 
nights  were  invariably  spent  in  the  open  stocks  by  any 
inhabitant  who  spoke  disrespectfully  to  any  town  officer, 
or  who  disobeyed  any  minor  municipal  decree.  No  one 
might  receive  a  stranger  into  his  house  without  the 
bailiff's  permission.  No  journeyman,  apprentice,  or 
servant  might  '  be  forth  of  their  or  his  master's  house ' 
after  nine  o'clock  at  night.  Bowling-alleys  and  butts 
were  provided  by  the  council,  but  were  only  to  be  used 
at  stated  times.  An  alderman  was  fined  on  one  occa- 
sion for  going  to  bowls  after  a  morning  meeting  of  the 
council,  and  Henry  Sydnall  was  fined  twenty  pence  for 
keeping  unlawful  or  unlicensed  bowling  in  a  back  shed. 
Alehouse-keepers,  of  whom  there  were  thirty  in  Shake- 
speare's time,  were  kept  strictly  under  the  council's  con- 
trol. They  were  not  allowed  to  brew  their  own  ale,  or 
to  encourage  tippling,  or  to  serve  poor  artificers  except 
at  stated  hours  of  the  day,  on  pain  of  fine  and  imprison- 
ment. Dogs  were  not  to  go  about  the  streets  unmuzzled. 
Every  inhabitant  had  to  go  to  church  at  least  once  a 
month,  and  absences  were  liable  to  penalties  of  twenty 
pounds,  which  in  the  late  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  com- 
missioners came  from  London  to  see  that  the  local 
authorities  enforced.  Early  in  the  lyth  century  swear- 
ing was  rigorously  prohibited.  Laws  as  to  dress  were 
regularly  enforced.  In  1577  there  were  many  fines 
exacted  for  failure  to  wear  the  plain  statute  woollen 
caps  on  Sundays,  to  which  Rosaline  makes  allusion  in 
Love's  Labour's  Lost  (v.  2.  281);  and  the  regulation 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  43 

affected  all  inhabitants  above  six  years  of  age.  In 
1604  'the  greatest  part'  of  the  inhabitants  were  pre- 
sented at  a  great  leet,  or  law-day,  'for  wearing  their 
apparel  contrary  to  the  statute.'  Nor  would  it  be  diffi- 
cult to  quote  many  other  like  proofs  of  the  persistent 
strictness  with  which  the  new  town  council  of  Stratford, 
by  the  enforcement  of  its  own  order  and  the  statutes  of 
the  realm,  regulated  the  inhabitants'  whole  conduct  of 
life." 

THE  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  STRATFORD. 

No  map  of  Stratford  made  before  the  middle  of 
the  i8th  century  is  known  to  exist.  The  one  here 
given  in  fac-simile  was  executed  about  the  year  1768, 
and,  as  Mr.  Halliwell-Phillipps  tells  us,  "it  clearly  ap- 
pears from  the  local  records  that  there  had  then  been 
no  material  alteration  in  either  the  form  or  the  extent 
of  the  town  since  the  days  of  Elizabeth.  It  may  there- 
fore be  accepted  as  a  reliable  guide  to  the  locality  as 
it  existed  in  the  poet's  own  time,  when  the  number  of 
inhabited  houses,  exclusive  of  mere  hovels,  could  not 
have  much  exceeded  five  hundred." 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  references  which  are 
appended  to  the  original  map  :  "  i.  Moor  Town's  End  ; 
—  2.  Henley  Lane;  —  3.  Rother  Market;  —  4.  Henley 
Street;  —  5.  Meer  Pool  Lane;  —  6.  Wood  Street; — 7. 
Ely  Street  or  Swine  Street ; — 8.  Scholar's  Lane  alias 
Tinker's  Lane; — 9.  Bull  Lane; — 10.  Street  call'd  Old 
Town;— ii.  Church  Street;— 12.  Chapel  Street;— 13. 
High  Street;— 14.  Market  Cross;— 15.  Town  Hall;— 
16.  Place  where  died  Shakespeare  ; — 17.  Chapel,  Public 
Schools,  &c.  ; — 1 8.  House  where  was  Shakespeare 
born; — 19.  Back  Bridge  Street; — 20.  Fore  Bridge 


44  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

Street;  —  21.  Sheep  Street; — 22.  Chapel  Lane; — 23. 
Buildings  call'd  Water  Side  ; — 24.  Southam's  Lane ; — 
25.  Dissenting  Meeting ; — 26.  White  Lion." 

Moor  Town's  End  (i)  is  now  Greenhill  Street.  The 
Town  Hall  (15)  did  not  exist  in  Shakespeare's  time, 
having  been  first  erected  in  1633,  taken  down  in  1767, 
and  rebuilt  the  following  year.  The  "  Place  where  died 
Shakespeare  "  (16)  was  New  Place,  the  home  of  his 
later  years.  The  "  Dissenting  Meeting  "  or  Meeting- 
house (25)  was  built  long  after  the  poet's  day.  The 
"White  Lion"  (26)  was  also  post-Shakespearian,  the 
chief  inns  in  the  i6th  century  being  the  Swan,  the 
Bear,  and  the  Crown,  all  in  Bridge  Street.  The  Mill 
and  Mill  Bridge  (built  in  1590)  are  indicated  on  the 
river  at  the  left-hand  lower  corner  of  the  map ;  and  the 
stone  bridge,  erected  by  Sir  Hugh  Clopton  about  1500, 
is  just  outside  the  right-hand  lower  corner. 

The  only  important  change  in  the  streets  since 
the  map  was  made  is  the  removal  of  the  row  of  small 
shops  and  stalls,  known  as  Middle  Row,  between  Fore 
Bridge  Street  (20);  and  Back  Bridge  Street  (19);  thus 
making  the  broad  avenue  now  called  Bridge  Street. 

The  "Market  Cross"  (14)  was  "a  stone  monument 
covered  by  a  low  tiled  shed,  round  which  were  benches 
for  the  accommodation  of  listeners  to  the  sermons 
which,  as  at  St.  Paul's  Cross  in  London,  were  some- 
times preached  there."  Later  a  room  was  added  above, 
and  a  clock  above  that.  The  open  space  about  the 
Cross  was  the  chief  market-place  of  the  town.  Near 
by  was  a  pump,  at  which  housewives  were  frequently 
to  be  seen  "  washing  of  clothes  "  and  hanging  them  on 
the  cross  to  dry,  and  butchers  sometimes  hung  meat 
there ;  but  these  practices  were  forbidden  by  the  town 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  45 

council  in  1608.  The  stocks,  pillory,  and  whipping- 
post were  in  the  same  locality. 

There  was  also  a  stone  cross  in  the  Rother  Market 
(3),  and  near  the  Guild  Chapel  (17)  was  a  second  pump, 
which  was  removed  by  order  of  the  council  in  1595. 
The  field  on  the  river,  near  the  foot  of  Chapel  Lane 
(22),  was  known  as  the  Bank-croft,  or  Bancroft,  where 
drovers  and  farmers  of  the  town  were  allowed  to  take 
their  cattle  to  pasture  for  an  hour  daily.  "  All  horses, 
geldings,  mares,  swine,  geese,  ducks,  and  other  cattle," 
according  to  the  regulation  established  by  the  council, 
if  found  there  in  violation  of  this  restriction,  were  put 
by  the  beadle  into  the  "  pinfold,"  or  pound,  which  was 
not  far  off.  This  Bancroft,  as  it  is  still  called,  is  now 
part  of  the  beautiful  little  park  on  the  river-bank,  ad- 
jacent to  the  grounds  of  the  Shakespeare  Memorial. 

Chapel  Lane,  which  bounded  one  side  of  the  New 
Place  estate,  was  one  of  the  filthiest  thoroughfares  of 
the  town,  the  general  sanitary  condition  of  which  (see 
page  25  above)  was  bad  enough.  A  streamlet  ran 
through  it,  the  water  of  which  turned  a  mill,  alluded  to 
in  town  records  of  that  period.  This  water-course 
gradually  became  "  a  shallow  fetid  ditch,  an  open  re- 
ceptacle of  sewage  and  filth."  It  continued  to  be  a 
nuisance  for  at  least  two  centuries  more.  A  letter  writ- 
ten in  1807,  in  connection  with  a  lawsuit,  gives  some 
interesting  reminiscences  of  it.  "  I  very  well  remem- 
ber," says  the  writer,  "  the  ditch  you  mention  forty-five 
years,  as  after  my  sister  was  married,  which  was  in  Octo- 
ber, 1760,  I  was  very  often  at  Stratford,  and  was  very 
well  acquainted  both  with  the  ditch  and  the  road  in 
question;  —  the  ditch  went  from  the  Chapel,  and  ex- 
tended to  Smith's  house ; — I  well  remember  there  was 


46  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

a  space  of  two  or  three  feet  from  the  wall  in  a  descent 
to  the  ditch,  and  I  do  not  think  any  part  of  the  new 
wall  was  built  on  the  ditch ; — the  ditch  was  the  recep- 
tacle for  all  manner  of  filth  that  any  person  chose  to 
put  there,  and  was  very  obnoxious  at  times; — Mr.  Hunt 
used  to  complain  of  it,  and  was  determined  to  get  it 
covered  over,  or  he  would  do  it  at  his  own  expense,  and 
I  do  not  know  whether  he  did  or  not ; — across,  the  road 
from  the  ditch  to  Shakespeare  Garden  was  very  hollow 
and  always  full  of  mud,  which  is  now  covered  over,  and 
in  general  there  was  only  one  wagon  tract  along  the 
lane,  which  used  to  be  very  bad,  in  the  winter  particu- 
larly;— I  do  not  know  that  the  ditch  was  so  deep  as  to 
overturn  a  carriage,  and  the  road  was  very  little  used 
near  it,  unless  it  was  to  turn  out  for  another,  as  there 
was  always  room  enough."  Thomas  Cox,  a  carpenter, 
who  lived  in  Chapel  Lane  from  1774,  remembered  that 
the  open  gutter  from  the  Chapel  to  Smith's  cottage 
"  was  a  wide  dirty  ditch  choked  with  mud,  that  all  the 
filth  of  that  part  of  the  town  ran  into  it,  that  it  was  four 
or  five  feet  wide  and  more  than  a  foot  deep,  and  that 
the  road  sloped  down  to  the  ditch."  According  to  other 
witnesses,  the  ditch  extended  to  the  end  of  the  lane, 
where,  between  the  roadway  and  the  Bancroft,  was  a 
narrow  creek  or  ditch  through  which  the  overflow  from 
Chapel  Lane  no  doubt  found  a  way  into  the  river. 

Mr.  Halliwell-Phillipps  believes, that  the  fever  which 
proved  fatal  to  Shakespeare  was  caused  by  the  "wretch- 
ed sanitary  conditions  surrounding  his  residence  " — an 
explanation  of  it  which  would  never  have  occurred  even 
to  medical  men  in  that  day. 


PART  II 
HIS   HOME   LIFE 


SHAKESPEARE    HOUSE,   RESTORED 


THE   DWELLING-HOUSES    OF   THE   TIME 


THE  house  in  Henley  Street  in  which  William  Shake- 
speare was  probably  born  and  spent  his  early  years  has 
undergone  many  changes ;  but,  as  carefully  restored 
in  recent  years  and  reverently  preserved  for  a  national 
memorial  of  the  poet,  its  appearance  now  is  doubtless 
not  materially  different  from  what  it  was  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  i6th  century. 

There  are  a  few  houses  of  the  same  period  and  the 
same  class  still  standing  in  Stratford  and  its  vicinity, 


50  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

which,  according  to  the  highest  antiquarian  authority, 
are  almost  unaltered  from  their  original  form  and  finish. 
Mr.  Halliwell-Phillipps  mentions  one  in  particular  in 
the  Rother  Market,  "the  main  features  of  which  are 
certainly  in  their  original  state,"  and  the  sketches  of 
the  interior  given  by  him  closely  resemble  those  of  the 
Shakespeare  house. 

These  houses  were  usually  of  two  stories,  and  were 
constructed  of  wooden  beams,  forming  a  framework, 
the  spaces  between  the  beams  being  filled  with  lath 
and  plaster.  The  roofs  were  usually  of  thatch,  with 
dormer  windows  and  steep  gables.  The  door  was 
shaded  by  a  porch  or  by  a  pentice,  or  penthouse,  which 
was  a  narrow  sloping  roof  often  extending  along  the 
the  front  of  the  lower  story  over  both  door  and  win- 
dows, as  in  Shakespeare's  birthplace  on  Henley  Street. 

In  the  Merchant  of  Venice  (ii.  6.  i)  Gratiano  says: — 

"  This  is  the  penthouse  under  which  Lorenzo 
Desired  us  to  make  stand." 

In  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  (iii.  3.  no)  Borachio 
says  to  Conrade:  "Stand  thee  close,  then,  under  this 
penthouse,  for  it  drizzles  rain."  We  find  a  figurative 
allusion  to  the  penthouse  in  Love's  Labour  's  Lost  (iii. 
i.  17):  "with  your  hat  penthouse -like  o'er  the  shop 
of  your  eyes  "  ;  and  another  in  Macbeth  (i.  3.  20)  : — 

"  Sleep  shall  neither  night  nor  day 
Hang  upon  his  penthouse  lid  " ; 

the  projecting  eyebrow  being  compared  to  this  part  of 
the  Elizabethan  dwelling:. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  51 

The  better  houses,  like  New  Place,  were  of  timber 
and  brick,  instead  of  plaster,  though  sometimes  entire- 
ly of  stone.  Shakespeare  appears  to  have  rebuilt  the 
greater  part  of  New  Place  with  stone.  The  roofs  of 
this  class  of  dwellings  were  usually  tiled,  but  occasion- 
ally thatched.  We  read  of  one  Walter  Roche,  who  in 
1582  replaced  the  tiles  of  his  house  in  Chapel  Street 
with  thatch.  The  wood  -work  in  the  front  of  some 
houses,  as  in  a  fine  example  still  to  be  seen  in  the  High 
Street  (page  59  below),  was  elaborately  carved  with 
floral  and  other  designs. 

The  gardens  were  bounded  by  walls  constructed  of 
clay  or  mud  and  usually  thatched  at  the  top.  Fruit- 
trees  were  common  in  these  gardens,  and  the  orchard 
about  the  Guild  buildings  was  noted  for  its  plums  and 
apples.  When  the  mulberry-tree  was  first  introduced 
into  England,  Shakespeare  bought  one  and  set  it  out 
in  his  grounds  at  New  Place,  where  it  grew  to  great 
size.  It  survived  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  after 
the  death  of  the  poet,  but  in  1758  was  cut  down  by  the 
Rev.  Francis  Gastrell,  who  had  bought  the  estate  in 


There  was  little  of  what  we  should  regard  as  comfort 
in  those  picturesque  old  English  houses,  with  their  great 
black  beams  chequering  the  outer  walls  into  squares 
and  triangles,  their  small  many-paned  windows,  their 
low  ceilings  and  rude  interior  wood-work,  their  poor 
and  scanty  furnishings. 

Chimneys  had  but  just  come  into  general  use  in  Eng- 
land, and,  though  John  Shakespeare's  house  had  one, 
the  dwellings  of  many  of  his  neighbors  were  still  un- 
provided with  them.  In  1582,  when  William  was  eigh- 
teen years  old,  an  order  was  passed  by  the  town  council 


52  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

that  "  Walter  Hill,  dwelling  in  Rother  Market,  and  all 
the  other  inhabitants  of  the  borough,  shall,  before  St. 
James's  Day,  3oth  April,  make  sufficient  chimneys," 
under  pain  of  a  fine  of  ten  shillings. 

This  was  intended  as  a  precaution  against  fires,  the 
frequent  occurrence  of  which  in  former  years  had  been 
mainly  due  to  the  absence  of  chimneys. 

William  Harrison,  in  1577,  referring  to  things  in  Eng- 
land that  had  been  "  marvellously  changed  within  the 
memory  of  old  people,"  includes  among  these  "  the 
multitude  of  chimneys  lately  erected,  whereas  in  their 
young  days  there  were  not  above  two  or  three,  if  so 
many,  in  most  uplandish  towns  of  the  realm  (the  re. 
ligious  houses  and  manor  places  of  their  lords  always 
excepted),  but  each  one  made  his  fire  against  a  reredos* 
in  the  hall,  where  he  dined  and  dressed  his  meat. 

In  another  chapter  Harrison  says :  "  Now  have  we 
many  chimneys ;  and  yet  our  tenderlings  complain  of 
rheums,  catarrhs,  and  poses.  Then  had  we  none  but 
reredosses  ;  and  our  heads  did  never  ache.  For  as  the 
smoke  in  those  days  was  supposed  to  be  a  sufficient 
hardening  for  the  timber  of  the  house,  so  it  was  re- 
ported a  far  better  medicine  to  keep  the  goodman  and 
his  family  from  the  quack  or  pose,  wherewith,  as  then, 
very  few  were  acquainted." 

THE    HOUSEHOLD    FURNITURE. 

Of  the  furniture  in  these  old  houses  we  get  an  idea 
from  inventories  of  the  period  that  have  come  down  to 

*  A  reredos  was  a  kind  of  open  hearth  or  brazier.  Pose,  just 
below,  means  a  cold  in  the  head,  and  quack  a  hoarseness  or  croak- 
ing caused  by  a  cold  in  the  throat. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  53 

us.  We  have,  for  instance,  such  a  list  of  the  house- 
hold equipment  of  Richard  Arden,  Shakespeare's  ma- 
ternal grandfather,  who  was  a  wealthy  farmer;  and 
another  of  such  property  belonging  to  Henry  Field, 
tanner,  a  neighbor  of  John  Shakespeare,  who  was  his 
chief  executor. 

From  these  and  similar  inventories  we  find  that  the 
only  furniture  in  the  hall,  or  main  room  of  the  house — 
often  occupying  the  whole  of  the  ground  floor — and  the 
parlor,  or  sitting-room,  when  there  was  one,  consisted 
of  two  or  three  chairs,  a  few  joint-stools — that  is,  stools 
made  of  wood  jointed  or  fitted  together,  as  distinguished 
from  those  more  rudely  made — a  table  of  the  plainest 
construction,  and  possibly  one  or  more  "painted  cloths" 
hung  on  the  walls. 

These  painted  cloths  were  cheap  substitutes  for  the 
tapestries  with  which  great  mansions  were  adorned, 
and  they  were  often  found  in  the  cottages  of  the  poor. 
The  paintings  were  generally  crude  representations  of 
Biblical  stories,  together  with  maxims  or  mottoes,  which 
were  sometimes  on  scrolls  or  "  labels  "  proceeding  from 
the  mouths  of  the  characters. 

Shakespeare  refers  to  these  cloths  several  times ;  for 
instance,  in  As  You  Like  It  (iii.  2.  291),  where  Jaques 
says  to  Orlando  :  "  You  are  full  of  pretty  answers  ;  have 
you  not  been  acquainted  with  goldsmiths'  wives  and 
conned  them  out  of  rings  ?" — referring  to  the  mottoes, 
or  "posies,"  as  they  were  called,  often  inscribed  in 
finger-rings.  Orlando  replies  :  "Not  so;  but  I  answer 
you  right  painted  cloth,  from  whence  you  have  studied 
your  questions."  Falstaff  (i  Henry  IV.  iv.  2.  28)  says 
that  his  recruits  are  "ragged  as  Lazarus  in  the  painted 
cloth." 


54  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

In  an  anonymous  play,  No  Whipping  nor  Tripping, 
printed  in  1601,  we  find  this  passage  : — 

"  Read  what  is  written  on  the  painted  cloth : 
Do  no  man  wrong ;  be  good  unto  the  poor ; 
Beware  the  mouse,  the  maggot,  and  the  moth, 
And  ever  have  an  eye  unto  the  door,"  etc. 

When  carpets  are  mentioned  in  these  inventories, 
they  are  c©verings  for  the  tables,  not  for  the  floors, 
which,  even  in  kings'  palaces,  were  strewn  with  rushes. 
Grumio,  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (iv.  i.  52)  sees 
"the  carpets  laid"  for  supper  on  his  master's  return 
home.  A  Stratford  inventory  of  1590  mentions  "a 
carpet  for  a  table."  Carpets  were  also  used  for  win- 
dow-seats, but  were  seldom  placed  on  the  floor  except 
to  kneel  upon,  or  for  other  special  purposes. 

The  bedroom  furniture  was  equally  rude  and  scanty, 
though  better  than  it  had  been  when  the  old  folk  of  the 
time  were  young.  Harrison  says  : — 

"  Our  fathers  and  we  ourselves  have  lien  full  oft  upon 
straw  pallets  covered  only  with  a  sheet,  under  coverlets 
made  of  dagswain  or  hopharlots  [coarse,  rough  cloths], 
and  a  good  round  log  under  their  heads  instead  of  a 
bolster.  If  it  were  that  our  fathers  or  the  good  man 
of  the  house  had  a  mattress  or  flock-bed,  and  thereto 
a  sack  of  chaff  to  rest  his  head  upon,  he  thought  him- 
self to  be  as  well  lodged  as  the  lord  of  the  town,  so 
well  were  they  contented." 

But  feather-beds  had  now  come  into  use,  with  pillows, 
and  "flaxen  sheets,"  and  other  comfortable  appliances. 
Henry  Field  had  "one  bed-covering  of  yellow  and 
green  "  among  his  household  goods. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  55 

Kitchen  utensils  and  table-ware  had  likewise  im- 
proved within  the  memory  of  the  old  inhabitant,  though 
still  rude  and  simple  enough.  Harrison  notes  "  the 
exchange  of  treen  [wooden]  platters  into  pewter,  and 
wooden  spoons  into  silver  or  tin." 

He  adds:  "  So  common  were  all  sorts  of  treen  stuff 
in  old  time  that  a  man  should  hardly  find  four  pieces 
of  pewter  (of  which  one  was  peradventure  a  salt)  in  a 
good  farmer's  house " ;  but  now  they  had  plenty  of 
pewter,  with  perhaps  a  silver  bowl  and  salt-cellar,  and 
a  dozen  silver  spoons. 

The  table-linen  was  hempen  for  common  use,  but 
flaxen  for  special  occasions,  and  the  napkins  were  of 
the  same  materials.  These  napkins,  or  towels,  as  they 
were  sometimes  called,  were  for  wiping  the  hands  after 
eating  with  the  fingers,  forks  being  as  yet  unknown  in 
England  except  as  a  curiosity. 

Elizabeth  is  the  first  royal  personage  in  the  country 
who  is  known  to  have  had  a  fork,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  she  used  it.  It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the 
i yth  century  that  forks  were  used  even  by  the  higher 
classes,  and  silver  forks  were  not  introduced  until 
about  1814. 

Thomas  Coryat,  in  his  Crudities,  published  in  1611, 
only  five  years  before  Shakespeare  died,  gives  an  ac- 
count of  the  use  of  forks  in  Italy,  where  they  appear 
to  have  been  invented  in  the  i5th  century.  He  says: — 

"The  Italian  and  also  most  strangers  do  always  at 
their  meals  use  a  little  fork  when  they  do  cut  their 
meat.  For  while  with  their  knife,  which  they  hold  in 
one  hand,  they  cut  the  meat  out  of  the  dish,  they  fasten 
the  fork,  which  they  hold  in  their  other  hand,  upon  the 
same  dish ;  so  that  whosoever  he  be  that,  sitting  in  the 


56  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

company  of  others  at  meals,  should  unadvisedly  touch 
the  dish  of  meat  with  his  fingers,  from  which  all  the 
table  do  cut,  he  will  give  occasion  of  offence  unto  the 
company,  as  having  transgressed  the  laws  of  good 
manners." 

Coryat  adds  that  he  himself  "thought  good  to  imitate 
the  Italian  fashion  by  this  forked  cutting  of  meat," 
not  only  while  he  was  in  Italy,  but  after  he  came 
home  to  England,  where,  however,  he  was  sometimes 
"quipped"  for  what  his  friends  regarded  as  a  foreign 
affectation. 

The  dramatists  of  the  time  also  refer  contemptuously 
to  "your  fork-carving  traveller";  and  one  clergyman 
preached  against  the  use  of  forks  "as  being  an  insult 
to  Providence  not  to  touch  one's  meat  with  one's  fin- 
gers !" 

Towels,  except  for  table  use,  are  rarely  noticed  in  in- 
ventories of  the  period,  and  when  mentioned  are  speci- 
fied as  "washing  towels."  Neither  are  wash-basins 
often  referred  to,  except  in  lists  of  articles  used  by 
barbers. 

Bullein,  in  his  Government  of  Health,  published  about 
1558,  says:  "Plain  people  in  the  country  use  seldom 
times  to  wash  their  hands,  as  appeareth  by  their  filthi- 
ness,  and  as  very  few  times  comb  their  heads." 

Their  betters  were  none  too  particular  in  these  mat- 
ters, and  in  personal  cleanliness  generally.  Baths  are 
seldom  referred  to  in  writings  of  the  time,  except  for 
the  treatment  of  certain  diseases. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  use  of  rushes 
for  covering  floors.  It  was  thought  to  be  a  piece  of  un- 
necessary luxury  on  the  part  of  Wolsey  when  he  caused 
the  rushes  at  Hampton  Court  to  be  changed  every  day. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 


57 


From  a  letter  of  Erasmus  to  Dr.  Francis,  Wolsey's 
physician,  it  would  appear  that  the  lowest  layer  of 
rushes  —  the  top  only  being  renewed  —  was  sometimes 
unchanged  for  years  —  the  latter  says  "twenty  years," 
which  seems  hardly  credible  —  becoming  a  receptacle 
for  beer,  grease,  fragments  of  victuals,  and  other  or- 
ganic matters. 

Perfumes  were  used  for  neutralizing  the  foul  odors 
that  resulted  from  this  filthiness.  Burton,  in  his  Anat- 
omy of  Melancholy,  1621,  says:  "The  smoke  of  juniper 
is  in  great  request  with  us  at  Oxford,  to  sweeten  our 
chambers."  [See  also  page  25  above.] 

From  the  correspondence  of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury 
with  Lord  Burleigh,  during  the  confinement  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  at  Sheffield  Castle,  in  1572,  we  learn 
that  she  was  to  be  removed  for  five  or  six  days  "  to 
cleanse  her  chamber,  being  kept  very  uncleanly." 

In  a  memoir  written  by  Anne,  Countess  of  Dorset,  in 
1603,  we  read:  "We  all  went  to  Tibbals  to  see  the 
King,  who  used  my  mother  and  my  aunt  very  gracious- 
ly ;  but  we  all  saw  a  great  change  between  the  fashion 
of  the  Court  as  it  was  now  and  of  that  in  the  Queen's, 
for  we  were  all  lousy  by  sitting  in  Sir  Thomas  Ers- 
kine's  chambers." 

FOOD   AND    DRINK. 

The  food  of  the  common  people  was  better  in  some 
respects  than  it  is  nowadays,  and  better  than  it  was  in 
Continental  countries.  Harrison  says  that  whereas  what 
he  calls  "  white  meats  " — milk,  butter,  and  cheese — were 
in  old  times  the  food  of  the  upper  classes,  they  were  in 
his  time  "  only  eaten  by  the  poor,"  while  all  other  classes 
ate  flesh,  fish,  and  "  wild  and  tame  fowls." 


58  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

Wheaten  bread,  however,  was  little  known  except  to 
the  rich,  the  bread  of  the  poor  being  made  of  rye  or 
barley,  and,  in  times  of  scarcity,  of  beans,  oats,  and 
even  acorns. 

Tea  and  coffee  had  not  yet  been  introduced  into  Eng- 
land, but  wine  was  abundant  and  cheap.  It  is  rather 
surprising  to  learn  that  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand 
tuns  of  home-grown  wine  were  then  made  in  the 
country. 

Of  foreign  wines,  thirty  kinds  of  strong  and  fifty-six 
of  light  were  to  be  had  in  London.  The  price  ranged 
from  eightpence  to  a  shilling  a  gallon.  The  drink  of  the 
common  people,  however,  was  beer,  which  was  generally 
home-brewed  and  cheap  withal. 

Harrison,  who  was  a  country  clergyman  with  forty 
pounds  a  year,  tells  how  his  good  wife  brewed  two 
hundred  gallons  at  a  cost  of  twenty  shillings,  or  less 
than  three  halfpence  a  gallon.  When  nobody  drank 
water,  and  the  only  substitute  for  malt  liquors  was  milk, 
the  consumption  of  beer  was  of  course  enormous. 

The  meals  were  but  two  a  day.  Harrison  says : 
"Heretofore  there  hath  been  much  more  time  spent 
in  eating  and  drinking  than  commonly  is  in  these 
days,  for  whereas  of  old  we  had  breakfasts  in  the  fore- 
noon, beverages  or  nuntions  [luncheons]  after  dinner, 
and  thereto  rear-suppers  [late  or  second  suppers]  gen- 
erally when  it  was  time  to  go  to  rest,  now  these  odd  re- 
pasts— thanked  be  God — are  very  well  left,  and  each 
one  in  manner  (except  here  and  there  some  young 
hungry  stomach  that  cannot  fast  till  dinner  time)  con- 
tenteth  himself  with  dinner  and  supper  only." 

Of  the  times  of  meals  he  says :  "  With  us  the  nobility, 
gentry,  and  students  do  ordinarily  go  to  dinner  at  eleven 


r 


OLD   HOUSE   IN   HIGH   STREET 


before  noon,  and  to  supper  at  five,  or  between  five  and 
six  at  afternoon.  The  merchants  dine  and  sup  seldom 
before  twelve  at  noon  and  six  at  night,  especially  in 
London.  The  husbandmen  dine  also  at  high  noon,  as 
they  call  it,  and  sup  at  seven  or  eight ;  but  out  of  the 
term  in  our  universities  the  scholars  dine  at  ten.  As 
for  the  poorest  sort,  they  generally  dine  and  sup  when 


60  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

they  may,  so  that  to  talk  of  their  order  of  repast  it  were 
but  needless  matter." 

Rising  at  four  or  five  in  the  morning,  as  was  the  cus- 
tom with  the  common  people,  and  going  until  ten  or 
even  noon  without  food  must  have  been  hard  for  other 
than  the  "young  hungry  stomachs"  of  which  Harrison 
speaks  so  contemptuously. 

THE  TRAINING  OF  CHILDREN. 

In  the  1 6th  century,  children  of  the  middle  and  up- 
per classes  were  strictly  brought  up.  The  "  Books  of 
Nurture,"  published  at  that  time,  give  minute  direc- 
tions for  the  behavior  of  boys  like  William  at  home,  at 
school,  at  church,  and  elsewhere.  These  manuals  were 
generally  in  doggerel  verse,  and  several  of  them  have 
been  edited  by  Dr.  F.  J.  Furnivall  for  the  Early  English 
Text  Society. 

Among  them  is  one  by  Francis  Seager,  published  in 
London  in  1557,  entitled  The  Schooleof  Vertue,  and  booke 
of  good  Nourture  for  Chyldren  and  youth  to  learne  their 
dutie  by.  Another  is  The  Boke  of  Nurture,  or  Schoole 
of  good  maners  for  men,  servants,  and  children,  compiled 
by  Hugh  Rhodes,  of  which  at  least  five  editions  were 
printed  between  1554  and  1577. 

The  Schoole  of  Vertue  begins  thus*  (the  spelling 
being  modernized) : — 

*  In  the  original  each  of  these  lines  is  divided  into  two,  thus: 
"  First  in  the  mornynge 

when  thou  dost  awake 
To  God  for  his  grace 

thy  peticion  then  make  ;"  etc. 
To  save  space,  I  arrange  the  lines  as  Dr.  Furnivall  does. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  61 

"  First  in  the  morning  when  thou  dost  awake 
To  God  for  his  grace  thy  petition  then  make ; 
This  prayer  following  use  daily  to  say, 
Thy  heart  lifting  up ;  thus  begin  to  pray ," 

A  prayer  of  eighteen  lines  follows,  with  directions  to 
repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  after  it.  Then  come  rules 
*'  how  to  order  thyself  when  thou  risest,  and  in  apparel- 
ling thy  body." 

The  child  is  to  rise  early,  dress  carefully,  washing 
his  hands  and  combing  his  head.  When  he  goes  down 
stairs  he  is  to  salute  the  family  : — 

"  Down  from  thy  chamber  when  thou  shalt  go, 
Thy  parents  salute  thou,  and  the  family  also." 

Elsewhere,  politeness  out  of  doors  is  enjoined  : — • 

"  Be  free  of  cap  [taking  it  off  to  his  elders]  and  full  of 
courtesy." 

At  meals  his  first  duty  is  to  wait  upon  his  parents, 
after  saying  this  grace : — 

"Give  thanks  to  God  with  one  accord 
For  that  shall  be  set  on  this  board. 
And  be  not  careful  what  to  eat, 
To  each  thing  living  the  Lord  sends  meat; 
For  food  He  will  not  see  you  perish, 
But  will  you  feed,  foster,  and  cherish; 
Take  well  in  worth  what  He  hath  sent, 
At  this  time  be  therewith  content, 
Praising  God." 

He  is  then  to  make  low  curtsy,  saying  "  Much  good 
may  it  do  you!"  and,  if  he  is  big  enough,  he  is  to 
bring  the  food  to  the  table. 


62  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

In  filling  the  dishes  he  must  take  care  not  to  get  them 
so  full  as  to  spill  anything  on  his  parents'  clothes.  He 
is  to  have  spare  trenchers  and  napkins  ready  for  guests, 
to  see  that  all  are  supplied  with  "bread  and  drink,"  and 
that  the  "  voiders  " — the  baskets  or  vessels  into  which 
bones  are  thrown — are  often  emptied. 

When  the  course  of  meat  is  over  he  is  to  clear  the 
table,  cover  the  salt,  put  the  dirty  trenchers  and  nap- 
kins into  a  voider,  sweep  the  crumbs  into  another,  place 
a  clean  trencher  before  each  person,  and  set  on  "cheese 
with  fruit,  with  biscuits  or  caraways  "  [comfits  contain- 
ing caraway  seeds,  which  were  considered  favorable  to 
digestion,  and,  according  to  a  writer  on  health,  in  1595, 
"surely  very  good  for  students"],  also  wine,  "if  any 
there  were,"  or  beer. 

The  meal  ended,  he  is  to  remove  the  cloth,  turning 
in  each  side  and  folding  it  up  carefully  ;  "  a  clean  towel 
then  on  the  table  to  spread,"  and  bring  basin  and  ewer 
for  washing  the  hands.  He  now  clears  the  table  again, 
and  when  the  company  rise,  he  must  not  "forget  his 
duty":- 

"  Before  the  table  make  thou  low  curtsy." 

The  boy  can  now  eat  his  own  dinner,  and  equally 
minute  directions  are  given  as  to  his  behavior  while 
doing  it.  He  is  not  to  break  his  bread,  but  "  cut  it 
fair,"  not  to  fill  his  spoon  too  full  of  soup,  nor  his 
mouth  too  full  of  meat — 

"  Not  smacking  thy  lips  as  commonly  do  hogs, 
Nor  gnawing  the  bones  as  it  were  dogs. 
Such  rudeness  abhor,  such  beastliness  fly, 
At  the  table  behave  thyself  mannerly." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  63 

He  must  keep  his  fingers  clean  with  a  napkin,  wipe 
his  mouth  before  drinking,  and  be  temperate  in  eat- 
ing— "  For  'measure  is  treasure,'  the  proverb  doth  say." 

The  directions  "  how  to  behave  thyself  in  talking 
with  any  man"  are  very  minute  and  specific: — 

"  If  a  man  demand  a  question  of  thee, 
In  thine  answer-making  be  not  too  hasty; 
Weigh  well  his  words,  the  case  understand, 
Ere  an  answer  to  make  thou  take  in  hand; 
Else  may  he  judge  in  thee  little  wit, 
To  answer  to  a  thing  and  not  hear  it. 
Suffer  his  tale  whole  out  to  be  told, 
Then  speak  thou  mayst,  and  not  be  controlled; 
Low  obeisance  making,  looking  him  in  the  face, 
Treatably  speaking,  thy  words  see  thou  place, 
With  countenance  sober,  thy  body  upright, 
Thy  feet  just  together,  thy  hands  in  like  plight; 
Cast  not  thine  eyes  on  either  side. 
When  thou  art  praised,  therein  take  no  pride. 
In  telling  thy  tale,  neither  laugh  nor  smile; 
Such  folly  forsake  thou,  banish  and  exile. 
In  audible  voice  thy  words  do  thou  utter, 
Not  high  nor  low,  but  using  a  measure. 
Thy  words  see  that  thou  pronounce  plaine, 
And  that  they  spoken  be  not  in  vain  ; 
In  uttering  whereof  keep  thou  an  order, 
Thy  matter  thereby  thou  shalt  much  forder  [further]; 
Which  order  if  thou  do  not  observe, 
From  the  purpose  needs  must  thou  swerve, 
And  hastiness  of  speed  will  cause  thee  to  err, 
Or  will  thee  teach  to  stut  or  stammer. 
To  stut  or  stammer  is  a  foul  crime; 
Learn  then  to  leave  it,  take  warning  in  time; 
How  evil  a  child  it  doth  become, 
Thyself  being  judge,  having  wisdom; 


64  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

And  sure  it  is  taken  by  custom  and  ure  [use], 

While  young  you  be  there  is  help  and  cure. 

This  general  rule  yet  take  with  thee, 

In  speaking  to  any  man  thy  head  uncovered  be, 

The  common  proverb  remember  ye  ought, 

'  Better  unfed  than  untaught.'  " 

Though  this  may  be  very  poor  poetry,  it  is  very  good 
advice ;  and  so  is  this  which  follows,  on  "  how  to  order 
thyself  being  sent  of  message  ":  — 

"  If  of  message  forth  thou  be  sent, 
Take  heed  to  the  same,  give  ear  diligent; 
Depart  not  away  and  being  in  doubt, 
Know  well  thy  message  before  thou  pass. out; 
With  possible  speed  then  haste  thee  right  soon, 
If  need  shall  require  it  so  to  be  done. 
After  humble  obeisance  the  message  forth  shew, 
Thy  words  well  placing,  in  uttering  but  few 
As  shall  thy  matter  serve  to  declare. 
Thine  answer  made,  then  home  again  repair, 
And  to  thy  master  thereof  make  relation 
As  then  the  answer  shall  give  thee  occasion. 
Neither  add  nor  diminish  anything  to  the  same, 
Lest  after  it  prove  to  thy  rebuke  and  shame, 
But  the  same  utter  as  near  as  thou  can ; 
No    fault   they   shall   find    to   charge    thee   with    than 
[then]." 

Similar  counsel  is  added  "  against  the  horrible  vice  of 
swearing": 

"  In  vain  take  not  the  name  of  God  ; 
Swear  not  at  all  for  fear  of  his  rod. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  65 

Seneca  doth  counsel  thee  all  swearing  to  refrain, 
Although  great  profit  by  it  thou  might  gain ; 
Pericles,  whose  words  are  manifest  and  plain, 
From  swearing  admonisheth  thee  to  abstain ; 
The  law  of  God  and  commandment  he  gave 
Swearing  amongst  us  in  no  wise  would  have. 
The  counsel  of  philosophers  I  have  here  exprest, 
Amongst  whom  swearing  was  utterly  detest ; 
Much  less  among  Christians  ought  it  to  be  used, 
But  utterly  of  them  clean  to  be  refused." 

There  are  also  admonitions  "  against  the  vice  of  filthy 
talking"  and  u  against  the  vice  of  lying";  and  a  prayer 
follows,  "  to  be  said  when  thou  goest  to  bed." 

The  rules  laid  down  in  the  Boke  of  Nurture  are  similar 
and  in  the  same  doggerel  measure.  It  is  interesting,  by 
the  bye,  to  compare  the  alterations  in  successive  editions 
as  indicating  changes  in  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  time.  A  single  illustration  must  suffice. 

When  the  first  edition  appeared,  handkerchiefs  had 
not  come  into  general  use;  and  how  to  blow  the  nose 
without  one  was  evidently  a  difficulty  with  the  writer 
and  other  early  authorities  on  deportment.  Even  in 
1577,  when  handkerchiefs  began  to  be  common,  Rhodes 
says : — 

"  Blow  not  your  nose  on  the  napkin 

Where  you  should  wipe  your  hand, 
But  cleanse  it  in  your  handkercher."  * 

*  The  spelling  handkercher,  common  in  these  old  books,  and  in 
the  early  editions  of  Shakespeare,  indicates  the  pronunciation  of 
the  time.  In  As  You  Like  It,  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Hamlet, 
Othello,  and  other  plays,  napkin  is  equivalent  to  handkerchief. 
This,  indeed,  is  the  only  meaning  of  the  word  in  Shakespeare,  as 
often  in  other  writers  of  the  period. 
5 


66  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

The  Booke  of  Demeanor,  printed  in  1619,  says: — 

"  Nor  imitate  with  Socrates 

To  wipe  thy  snivelled  nose 
Upon  thy  cap,  as  he  would  do, 

Nor  yet  upon  thy  clothes  : 
But  keep  it  clean  with  handkerchief, 

Provided  for  the  same, 
Not  with  thy  fingers  or  thy  sleeve, 

Therein  thou  art  to  blame." 

The  introduction  of  toothpicks,  the  gradual  adoption 
of  forks,  already  referred  to,  and  sundry  other  refine- 
ments, can  be  similarly  traced  in  these  interesting  hand- 
books. 

It  would  appear  .that  this  Schoole  of  Vertue,  or  some 
other  book  with  the  same  title,  was  used  in  schools  for 
boys.  John  Brinsley,  in  his  Grammar  Schoole  of  1612 
(quoted  by  Dr.  Furnivall),  enumerates  the  "  Bookes  to 
be  first  learned  of  children."  After  mentioning  the 
Primer,  the  Psalms  in  metre — "because  children  will 
learne  that  booke  with  most  readinesse  and  delight 
through  the  running  of  the  metre"  —and  the  Testa- 
ment, he  adds :  "  If  any  require  any  other  little  booke 
meet  to  enter  children,  the  Schoole  of  Vertue  is  one  of 
the  principall,  and  easiest  for  the  first  enterers,  being 
full  of  precepts  of  civilitie,  and  such  as  children  will 
soone  learne  and  take  a  delight  in,  thorow  [through] 
the  roundnesse  of  the  metre,  as  was  sayde  before  of  the 
singing  Psalmes  :  and  after  it  the  ScJioole  of  good  man- 
ners, called  the  new  Schoole  of  Vertue,  leading  the  childe 
as  by  the  hand,  in  the  way  of  all  good  manners.'1 


SHAKESPEARE  THE  BOY  67 

INDOOR    AMUSEMENTS. 

Of  the  indoor  amusements  of  country  people  we  get 
an  idea  from  Vincent's  Dialogue  with  an  English  Court- 
ier, published  in  1586.  He  says:  "In  foul  weather 
we  send  for  some  honest  neighbors,  if  haply  we  be  with 
our  wives  alone  at  home  (as  seldom  we  are)  and  with 
them  we  play  at  Dice  and  Cards,  sorting  ourselves  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  players  and  their  skill ;  .  .  . 
sometimes  we  fall  to  Slide-Thrift,  to  Penny  Prick,  and 
in  winter  nights  we  use  certain  Christmas  games  very 
proper,  and  of  much  agility ;  we  want  not  also  pleasant 
mad-headed  knaves,  that  be  properly  learned,  and  will 
read  in  divers  pleasant  books  and  good  authors  ;  as 
Sir  Guy  of  Warwick,  the  Four  Sons  of  Aymon,  the 
Ship  of  Fools,  the  Hundred  Merry  Tales,  the  Book  of 
Riddles,  and  many  other  excellent  writers  both  witty 
and  pleasant.  These  pretty  and  pithy  matters  do 
sometimes  recreate  our  minds,  chiefly  after  long  sitting 
and  loss  of  money." 

"Slide-thrift,"  called  also  "slip-groat"  and  "shove- 
groat,"  is  a  game  frequently  mentioned  by  writers  of 
the  i6th  and  lyth  centuries.  Strutt,  in  his  Sports  and 
Pastimes  of  England,  describes  it  thus  : — 

"  It  requires  a  parallelogram  to  be  made  with  'chalk, 
or  by  lines  cut  upon  the  middle  of  a  table,  about  twelve 
or  fourteen  inches  in  breadth,  and  three  or  four  feet  in 
length  :  which  is  divided,  latitudinally,  into  nine  sec- 
tions, in  every  one  of  which  is  placed  a  figure,  in  regu- 
lar succession  from  one  to  nine.  Each  of  the  players 
provides  himself  with  a  smooth  halfpenny,  which  he 
places  upon  the  edge  of  the  table,  and,  striking  it  with 
the  palm  of  his  hand,  drives  it  towards  the  marks;  and 


68 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 


according  to  the  value  of  the  figure  affixed  to  the  par- 
tition  wherein  the  halfpenny  rests,  his  game  is  reck- 
oned;  which  generally  is  stated  at  thirty-one,  and  must 
be  made  precisely:  if  it  be  exceeded,  the  player  goes 
again  for  nine,  which  must  also  be  brought  exactly  or 
the  turn  is  forfeited :  and  if  the  halfpenny  rests  upon 
any  of  the  marks  that  separate  the  partitions,  or  over- 
passes the  external  boundaries,  the  go  is  void.  It  is 
also  to  be  observed  that  the  players  toss  up  to  deter- 


SHILLING  OF  EDWARD  VI 


mine  which  shall  go  first,  which  is  certainly  a  great 
advantage." 

Shovel-board,  or  shuffle-board,  which  some  writers 
confound  with  slide-thrift,  was  also  played  upon  a  table 
with  coins  or  flat  pieces  of  metal  •  but  the  board  was 
longer  and  the  rules  of  the  game  were  different. 

In  2  Henry  IV.  (ii.  4.  206),  when  Falstaff  wants  Pis- 
tol put  out  of  the  room,  he  says  to  Bardolph  :  "  Quoit 
him  down,  Bardolph,  like  a  shove-groat  shilling." 

In  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (i.  i.  159),  Slender, 
when  asked  if  Pistol  had  picked  his  purse,  replies : 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  69 

"  Ay,  by  these  gloves,  did  he  ...  of  seven  groats  in 
mill-sixpences  and  two  Edward  shovel-boards,  that  cost 
me  two  shillings  and  twopence  apiece."  "Edward 
shovel-boards"  were  the  broad  shillings  of  Edward  VI. 
which  were  generally  used  in  playing  the  game.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  Slender  was  a  fool  to  pay  two 
shillings  and  twopence  for  a  shilling  worn  smooth ;  but 
it  is  possible  that  these  old  coins  commanded  a  pre- 
mium on  account  of  being  in  demand  for  this  game. 
The  silver  groat  (fourpence)  was  originally  used  for  the 
purpose,  but  the  shilling,  especially  of  this  particular 
coinage,  came  to  be  preferred  by  players.  Taylor  the 
Water  Poet  makes  one  of  these  coins  say  :— 

"  You  see  my  face  is  beardless,  smooth,  and  plain, 
Because  my  sovereign  was  a  child  't  is  known, 
When  as  he  did  put  on  the  English  crown  ; 
But  had  my  stamp  been  bearded,  as  with  hair, 
Long  before  this  it  had  been  worn  out  bare ; 
For  why,  with  me  the  unthrifts  every  day, 
With  my  face  downward,  do  at  shove-board  play." 

"  Penny-prick "  is  described  as  "  a  game  consisting 
of  casting  oblong  pieces  of  iron  at  a  mark."  Another 
writer  explains  it  as  "  throwing  at  halfpence  placed  on 
sticks  which  are  called  hobs."  It  was  a  common  game 
as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century,  and  is  reproved  by  a 
religious  writer  of  that  period,  probably  because  it  was 
used  for  gambling. 

Card-playing  had  become  so  general  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  that  a  statute  was  enacted  forbidding  ap- 
prentices to  use  cards  except  in  the  Christmas  holi- 
days, and  then  only  in  their  masters'  houses.  Many 


70  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

different  games  with  cards  are  mentioned  by  writers 
of  the  time,  but  few  of  them  are  described  minutely 
enough  to  make  it  clear  how  they  were  played. 

Backgammon,  or  "  tables,"  as  it  was  called,  was 
popular  in  Shakespeare's  time.  He  refers  to  it  in 
Love's  Labour  \r  Lost  (v.  2.  326),  where  Biron,  ridiculing 
Boyet,  says  : — 

"  This  is  the  ape  of  form,  monsieur  the  nice, 
That,  when  he  plays  at  tables,  chides  the  dice 
In  honourable  terms." 

"  Tick-tack "  was  a  kind  of  backgammon  ;  alluded 
to,  figuratively,  in  Measure  for  Measure  (i.  2.  196)  : 
"thus  foolishly  lost  at  a  game  of  tick-tack." 

"  Tray-trip  "  was  a  game  of  dice,  in  which  success 
depended  upon  throwing  a  "tray"  (the  French  trots, 
or  three);  mentioned  in  Twelfth  Night  (ii.  5.  207): 
"  Shall  I  play  my  freedom  at  tray-trip,  and  become 
thy  bond-slave  ?" 

"  Troll-my-dames"  was  a  game  resembling  the  mod- 
ern bagatelle.  The  name  is  a  corruption  of  the 
French  trou-madame.  It  was  also  known  as  "pigeon- 
holes." Dr.  John  Jones,  in  his  Ancient  Baths  of  Buck- 
stone  (1572)  refers  to  it  thus  :  "  The  ladies,  gentlewom- 
en, wives  and  maids,  may  in  one  of  the  galleries  walk ; 
and  if  the  weather  be  not  agreeable  to  their  expecta- 
tion, they  may  have  in  the  end  of  a  bench  eleven  holes 
made,  into  the  which  to  troll  pummets,  or  bowls  of 
lead,  big,  little,  or  mean,  or  also  of  copper,  tin,  wood, 
either  violent  or  soft,  after  their  own  discretion  :  the 
pastime  troule-in-madame  is  called." 

In  The  Tempest  (v.  i.  172)  Ferdinand  and  Miranda 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  71 

are  represented  as  playing  chess  ;  but  there  is  no  other 
clear  allusion  to  the  game  in  Shakespeare's  works.  It 
was  introduced  into  England  before  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, and  became  a  favorite  pastime  with  the  upper 
classes,  but  appears  to  have  been  little  known  among 
the  common  people. 

POPULAR    BOOKS. 

Of  books  there  were  probably  very  few  at  the  house 
in  Henley  Street.  Some  of  those  mentioned  by  Vin- 
cent were  popular  with  all  classes.  The  story  of  Guy 
of  Warwick  had  been  told  repeatedly  in  prose  and 
verse  from  the  twelfth  century  down  to  Shakespeare's 
day,  and  some  of  the  books  and  ballads  would  be  like- 
ly to  be  well  known  in  Stratford,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  hero's  legen- 
dary exploits.  The  Four  Sons  of  Aymon  was  the  trans- 
lation of  a  French  prose  romance,  the  earliest  form  of 
which  dated  back  to  songs  or  ballads  of  the  i3th  cen- 
tury. Aymon,  or  Aimon,  a  prince  of  Ardennes  whose 
history  was  partly  imaginary,  and  his  sons  figure  in 
the  works  of  Tasso  and  Ariosto,  and  other  Italian 
and  French  poets  and  romancers. 

The  Hundred  Merry  Tales  was  a  popular  jest-book  of 
Shakespeare's  time,  to  which  he  alludes  in  Much  Ado 
About  Nothing  (ii.  i.  134),  where  Beatrice  refers  to  what 
Benedick  had  said  about  her :  "  That  I  was  disdain- 
ful, and  that  I  had  my  wit  out  of  the  Hundred  Merry 
Tales." 

The  Book  of  Riddles  was  another  book  mentioned  by 
Shakespeare  in  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (i.  i.  205), 
in  connection  with  a  volume  of  verse  which  was  equal- 
ly popular  in  the  Elizabethan  age : — 


72  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

"  Slender.  I  had  rather  than  forty  shillings,  I  had  my 
book  of  Songs  and  Sonnets  here. — 
Enter  Simple. 

How  now,  Simple  !  Where  have  you  been  ?  I  must  wait 
on  myself,  must  I  ?  You  have  not  the  Book  of  Riddles 
about  you,  have  you  ? 

Simple.  Book  of  Riddles?  why,  did  you  not  lend  it 
to  Alice  Shortcake  upon  Allhallowmas  last,  a  fortnight 
afore  Michaelmas  ?" 

The  title-page  of  one  edition  reads  thus:  "The 
Booke  of  Merry  Riddles.  Together  with  proper  Ques- 
tions, and  witty  Proverbs  to  make  pleasant  pastime. 
No  lesse  usefull  than  behoovefull  for  any  yong  man 
or  child,  to  know  if  he  bee  quick-witted,  or  no." 

A  few  of  the  shortest  riddles  may  be  quoted  as  sam- 
ples : — 

"  The  li.  Riddle.— -My  lovers  will 

I  am  content  for  to  fulfill ; 

Within  this  rime  his  name  is  framed  ; 

Tell  me  then  how  he  is  named  ? 

Solution. — His  name  is  William ;  for  in  the  first  line  is 
will,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  line  is  I  am,  and 
then  put  them  both  together,  and  it  maketh  William. 

The  liv.  Riddle. — How  many  calves  tailes  will  reach  to 
the  skye  ?  Solution. — One,  if  it  be  long  enough. 

The  Ixv.  Riddle.— What  is  that,  round  as  a  ball, 

Longer  than  Pauls  steeple,  weather- 
cocke,  and  all  ? 

Solution. — It  is  a  round  bottome  of  thred  when  it  is 
unwound. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  73 

The  Ixvii.  Riddle. — What  is  that,  that  goeth  thorow  the 
wood,  and  toucheth  never  a  twig  ?  Solution. — It  is  the 
blast  of  a  home,  or  any  other  noyse." 

A  bottom  of  thread  was  a  ball  of  it.  The  word  oc- 
curs in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (iv.  3.  138),  where 
Grumio  says,  in  the  dialogue  with  the  Tailor :  "  Mas- 
ter, if  ever  I  said  loose-bodied  gown,  sew  me  in  the 
skirts  of  it,  and  beat  me  to  death  with  a  bottom  of 
brown  thread ;  I  said  a  gown."  The  verb  is  used  in 
The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  (iii.  2.  53): — 

"  Therefore,  as  you  unwind  her  love  from  him, 
Lest  it  should  ravel  and  be  good  to  none, 
You  must  provide  to  bottom  it  on  me." 

This  old  meaning  of  bottom  doubtless  suggested  the 
name  of  Bottom  the  Weaver  in  the  Midsummer-Night's 
Dream. 

STORY-TELLING. 

If  books  were  scarce  in  the  homes  of  the  common 
people  when  Shakespeare  was  a  boy,  there  was  no  lack 
of  oral  tales,  legends,  and  folk-lore  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  family  of  a  winter  evening.  The  store  of 
this  unwritten  history  and  fiction  was  inexhaustible. 

In  Milton's  L"  Allegro  we  have  a  pleasant  picture  of  a 
rustic  group  listening  to  fairy  stories  round  the  even- 
ing fire : — 

"Then  to  the  spicy  nut-brown  ale, 
With  stories  told  of  many  a  feat, 
How  lairy  Mab  the  junkets  eat. 
She  was  pinch'd  and  pull'd,  she  said, 
And  he,  by  Friar's  lantern  led, 


74  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

Tells  how  the  drudging  goblin  sweat 
To  earn  his  cream-bowl  duly  set, 
When  in  one  night,  ere  glimpse  of  morn, 
His  shadowy  flail  hath  thresh'd  the  corn 
That  ten  day-laborers  could  not  end  ; 
Then  lies  him  down  the  lubber  fiend, 
And,  stretch'd  out  all  the  chimney's  length, 
Basks  at  the  fire  his  hairy  strength, 
And  crop-full  out  of  doors  he  flings 
Ere  the  first  cock  his  matin  rings. 
Thus  done  the  tales,  to  bed  they  creep, 
By  whispering  winds  soon  lull'd  asleep." 

Of  "  fairy  Mab  "  we  have  a  graphic  description  from 
the  merry  Mercutio  in  Romeo  and  Juliet  (i.  4.  53-94)  ; 
and  the  "drudging  goblin,"  or  Robin  Goodfellow,  is 
the  Puck  of  the  Mid  summer- Nights  Dream,  to  whom 
the  Fairy  says  (ii.  i.  40)  : — 


"Those  that  Hobgoblin  call  you  and  sweet  Puck, 
You  do  their  work,  and  they  shall  have  good  luck." 

In  the  same  scene  Puck  himself  tells  of  the  practical 
jokes  he  plays  upon  "  the  wisest  aunt  telling  the  sad- 
dest tale"  to  a  fireside  group,  and  of  many  another 
sportive  trick  with  which  he  "  frights  the  maidens  "  and 
vexes  the  housewives. 

The  children  had  their  stories  to  tell,  like  their  elders ; 
and  Shakespeare  has  pictured  a  home  scene  in  The 
Winters  Tale  (ii.  i.  21)  which  may  have  been  suggest- 
ed by  his  own  experience  as  a  boy.  As  Mr.  Charles 
Knight  asks,  "  may  we  not  read  for  Hermione,  Mary 
Shakespeare,  and  for  Mamillius,  William  ?" 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  75 

"  Hermionc.  What  wisdom  stirs  amongst  you  ?     Come, 

sir,  now 

I  am  for  you  again  ;  pray  you,  sit  by  us, 
And  tell  's  a  tale. 

Mamillius.  Merry,  or  sad  shall  't  be  ? 

Hermione.  As  merry  as  you  will. 

Mamillius.     A  sad  tale  's  best  for  winter.     I  have  one 
Of  sprites  and  goblins. 

Hermione.  Let 's  have  that,  good  sir. 

Come  on,  sit  down  ;  come  on,  and  do  your  best 
To  fright  me  with  your  sprites ;  you  're  powerful  at  it. 

Mamilltus.  There  was  a  man— 

Hermione.  Nay,  come,  sit  down  ;  then  on. 

Mamillius.  Dwelt  by  a  churchyard  : — I  will  tell  it  softly  ; 
Yond  crickets  shall  not  hear  it. 

Hermione.  Come  on,  then, 

And  give  't  me  in  mine  ear." 

Just  then  his  father,  Leontes,  comes  in,  and  the  tale  is 
interrupted,  never  to  be  resumed. 

Mr.  Knight  assumes,  with  a  good  degree  of  proba- 
bility, that  William  had  access  to  some  of  the  books 
from  which  he  drew  material  for  the  story  of  his  plays 
later  in  life,  and  that  he  may  have  told  these  tales, 
whether  "merry  or  sad,"  to  his  brothers  and  sisters  at 
home. 

4*  He  had,"  says  this  genial  biographer,  "  a  copy,  well 
thumbed  from  his  first  reading  days,  of  'The  Palace  of 
Pleasure,  beautified,  adorned,  and  well  furnished  with 
pleasant  histories  and  excellent  novelles,  selected  out 
of  divers  good  and  commendable  authors ;  by  William 
Painter,  Clarke  of  the  Ordinaunce  and  Armarie.'  In 
this  book,  according  to  the  dedication  of  the  translator 
to  Ambrose  Earl  of  Warwick,  was  set  forth  *  the  great 
valiance  of  noble  gentlemen,  the  terrible  combats  of 


76  SHAKESPEARE   THE   BOY 

courageous  personages,  the  virtuous  minds  of  noble 
dames,  the  chaste  hearts  of  constant  ladies,  the  won- 
derful patience  of  puissant  princes,  the  mild  suffer- 
ance of  well-disposed  gentlewomen,  and,  in  divers,  the 
quiet  bearing  of  adverse  fortune.'  Pleasant  little  apo- 
thegms and  short  fables  were  there  in  the  book  ;  which 
the  brothers  and  sisters  of  William  Shakespeare  had 
heard  him  tell  with  marvellous  spirit,  and  they  abided 
therefore  in  their  memories.  There  was  ^Esop's  fable 
of  the  old  lark  and  her  young  ones,  wherein  'he  pret- 
tily and  aptly  doth  premonish  that  hope  and  confidence 
of  things  attempted  by  man  ought  to  be  fixed  and 
trusted  in  none  other  but  himself.'  There  was  the 
story,  most  delightful  to  a  child,  of  the  bondman  at 
Rome,  who  was  brought  into  the  open  place  upon 
which  a  great  multitude  looked,  to  fight  with  a  lion  of 
a  marvellous  bigness  ;  and  the  fierce  lion,  when  he  saw 
him,  *  suddenly  stood  still,  and  afterwards  by  little  and 
little,  in  gentle  sort,  he  came  unto  the  man  as  though 
he  had  known  him,'  and  licked  his  hands  and  legs  ;  and 
the  bondman  told  that  he  had  healed  in  former  time 
the  wounded  foot  of  the  lion,  and  the  beast  became  his 
friend.  These  were  for  the  younger  children  ;  but  Wil- 
liam had  now  a  new  tale,  out  of  the  same  storehouse, 
upon  which  he  had  often  pondered,  the  subject  of  which 
had  shaped  itself  in  his  mind  into  dialogue  that  almost 
sounded  like  verse  in  his  graceful  and  earnest  recita- 
tion. It  was  a  tale  which  Painter  translated  from  the 
French  of  Pierre  Boisteau.  .  .  .  It  was  'The  goodly  his- 
tory of  the  true  and  constant  love  between  Romeo  and 
Julietta.'  .  .  .  From  the  same  collection  of  tales  had 
the  youth  before  half  dramatized  the  story  of  '  Giletta 
of  Narbonne,'  who  cured  the  King  of  France  of  a  pain- 


SPIAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  77 

ful  malady,  and  the  king  gave  her  in  marriage  to  the 
Count  Beltramo,  with  whom  she  had  been  brought  up, 
and  her  husband  despised  and  forsook  her,  but  at  last 
they  were  united,  and  lived  in  great  honor  and  felicity. 

"There  was  another  collection,  too,  which  that  youth 
had  diligently  read,  —  the  '  Gesta  Romanorum,'  trans- 
lated by  R.  Robinson  in  1577, — old  legends,  come  clown 
to  those  latter  days  from  monkish  historians,  who  had 
embodied  in  their  narratives  all  the  wild  traditions  of 
the  ancient  and  modern  world.  He  could  tell  the  story 
of  the  rich  heiress  who  chose  a  husband  by  the  ma- 
chinery of  a  gold,  a  silver,  and  a  leaden  casket ;  and 
another  story  of  the  merchant  whose  inexorable  creditor 
required  the  fulfilment  of  his  bond  in  cutting  a  pound 
of  flesh,  nearest  the  merchant's  heart,  and  by  the  skilful 
interpretation  of  the  bond  the  cruel  creditor  was  de- 
feated. 

"There  was  the  story,  too,  in  these  legends,  of  the  Em- 
peror Theodosius,  who  had  three  daughters  ;  and  those 
two  daughters  who  said  they  loved  him  more  than  them- 
selves were  unkind  to  him,  but  the  youngest,  who  only 
said  she  loved  him  as  much  as  he  was  worthy,  suc- 
coured him  in  his  need,  and  was  his  true  daughter.  .  .  . 

"  Stories  such  as  these,  preserved  amidst  the  wreck 
of  time,  were  to  that  youth  like  the  seeds  that  are  found 
in  the  tombs  of  ruined  cities,  lying  with  the  bones  of 
forgotten  generations,  but  which  the  genial  influence  of 
nature  will  call  into  life,  and  they  shall  become  flowers, 
and  trees,  and  food  for  man. 

"  But,  beyond  all  these,  our  Mamillius  had  many  a  tale 
'of  sprites  and  goblins'  .  .  .  Such  appearances  were 
above  nature,  but  the  commonest  movements  of  the 
natural  world  had  them  in  subjection  : — 


78  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

» 

" ' I  have  heard, 

The  cock,  that  is  the  trumpet  to  the  morn, 
Doth  with  his  lofty  and  shrill-sounding  throat 
Awake  the  god  of  day;  and  at  his  warning, 
Whether  in  sea  or  fire,  in  earth  or  air, 
The  extravagant  and  erring  spirit  hies 
To  his  confine.' 

"  Powerful  they  were,  but  yet  powerless.  They  came 
for  benevolent  purposes  :  to  warn  the  guilty ;  to  dis- 
cover the  guilt.  The  belief  in  them  was  not  a  debasing 
thing.  It  was  associated  with  the  enduring  confidence 
that  rested  upon  a  world  beyond  this  material  world. 
Love  hoped  for  such  visitations;  it  had  its  dreams  of 
such — where  the  loved  one  looked  smilingly,  and  spoke 
of  regions  where  change  and  separation  were  not.  They 
might  be  talked  of,  even  among  children  then,  without 
terror.  They  lived  in  that  corner  of  the  soul  which  had 
trust  in  angel  protections,  which  believed  in  celestial 
hierarchies,  which  listened  to  hear  the  stars  moving  in 
harmonious  music.  .  .  . 

"William  Shakespeare  could  also  tell  to  his  greedy 
listeners,  how  in  the  old  days  of  King  Arthur 

"  '  The  elf-queene,  with  her  jolly  compagnie, 
Danced  full  oft  in  many  a  grene  mede.' 

"  Here  was  something  in  his  favorite  old  poet  for  the 
youth  to  work  out  into  beautiful  visions  of  a  pleasant 
race  of  supernatural  beings ;  who  Jived  by  day  in  the 
acorn  cups  of  Arden,  and  by  moonlight  held  their 
revels  on  the  greensward  of  Avon-side,  the  ringlets 
of  their  dance  being  duly  seen,  '  whereof  the  ewe  not 
bites ';  who  tasted  the  honey-bag  of  the  bee,  and  held 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  79 

counsel  by  the  light  of  the  glowworm;  who  kept  the 
cankers  from  the  rosebuds,  and  silenced  the  hootings 
of  the  owl.  .  .  .  Some  day  would  William  make  a  little 
play  of  Fairies,  and  Joan  should  be  their  Queen,  and  he 
would  be  the  King  ;  for  he  had  talked  with  the  Fairies, 
and  he  knew  their  language  and  their  manners,  and 
they  were  'good  people/  and  would  not  mind  a  boy's 
sport  with  them. 

"  But  when  the  youth  began  to  speak  of  witches  there 
was  fear  and  silence.  For  did  not  his  mother  recollect 
that  in  the  year  she  was  married  Bishop  Jewell  had  told 
the  Queen  that  her  subjects  pined  away,  even  unto  the 
death,  and  that  their  affliction  was  owing  to  the  in- 
crease of  witches  and  sorcerers?  Was  it  not  known 
how  there  were  three  sorts  of  witches, — those  that  can 
hurt  and  not  help,  those  that  can  help  and  not  hurt, 
and  those  that  can  both  help  and  hurt?  It  was  unsafe 
even  to  talk  of  them. 

"  But  the  youth  had  met  with  the  history  of  the  murder 
of  Duncan  King  of  Scotland,  in  a  chronicler  older  than 
Holinshed;  and  he  told  softly,  so  that 'yon  crickets 
shall  not  hear  it,'  that,  as  Macbeth  and  Banquo  jour- 
neyed from  Forres,  sporting  by  the  way  together, 
when  the  warriors  came  in  the  midst  of  a  laund, 
three  weird  sisters  suddenly  appeared  to  them,  in 
strange  and  wild  apparel,  resembling  creatures  of 
an  elder  world,  and  prophesied  that  Macbeth  should 
be  King  of  Scotland;  and  Macbeth  from  that  hour 
desired  to  be  king,  and  so  killed  the  good  king  his 
liege  lord. 

"And  then  the  story-teller  would  pass  on  to  safer 
matters — to  the  calculations  of  learned  men  who  could 
read  the  fates  of  mankind  in  the  aspects  of  the  stars ; 


So  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

and  of  those  more  deeply  learned,  clothed  in  garments 
of  white  linen,  who  had  command  over  the  spirits  of 
the  earth,  of  the  water,  and  of  the  air.  Some  of  the 
children  said  that  a  horseshoe  over  the  door,  and  ver- 
vain and  dill,  would  preserve  them,  as  they  had  been 
told,  from  the  devices  of  sorcery.  But  their  mother 
called  to  their  mind  that  there  was  security  far 
more  to  be  relied  on  than  charms  of  herb  or  horse- 
shoe—  that  there  was  a  Power  that  would  preserve 
them  from  all  evil,  seen  or  unseen,  if  such  were 
His  gracious  will,  and  if  they  humbly  sought  Him, 
and  offered  up  their  hearts  to  Him  in  all  love  and 
trust.  And  to  that  Power  this  household  then  ad- 
dressed themselves ;  and  the  night  was  without  fear, 
and  their  sleep  was  pleasant." 

CHRISTENINGS. 

In  the  olden  time  the  christening  of  a  child  was  an 
occasion  of  feasting  and  gift-giving.  It  was  an  ancient 
custom  for  the  sponsors  to  make  a  present  of  silver  or 
gilt  spoons  to  the  infant.  These  were  called  "  apostle 
spoons,"  because  the  end  of  the  handle  was  formed 
into  the  figure  of  one  of  the  apostles.  The  rich  or 
generous  gave  the  whole  twelve ;  those  less  wealthy 
or  liberal  limited  themselves  to  the  four  evangelists ; 
while  the  poor  contented  themselves  with  the  gift  of 
a  single  spoon. 

There  is  an  allusion  to  this  custom  in  Henry  VIII. 
(v.  3.  1 68),  where  the  King  replies  to  Cranmer,  who 
has  professed  to  be  unworthy  of  being  a  sponsor  to 
the  baby  Elizabeth,  "  Come,  come,  my  lord,  you'd 
spare  your  spoons," —  a  playful  insinuation  that  the 


SHAKESPEARE  THE  BOY  81 

archbishop  wants  to  escape  making  a  present  to  the 
child. 

It  is  related  that  Shakespeare  was  godfather  to  one 
of  Ben  Jonson's  children,  and  said  to  his  friend  after 
the  christening,  "  I'  faith,  Ben,  I'll  e'en  give  him  a  dozen 


ANCIENT    FONT   AT   STRATFORD 


good  Latin  spoons,  and  thou  shalt  translate  them." 
That  is,  as  Mr.  Thorns  explains  it,  "  Shakespeare,  will- 
ing to  show  his  wit,  if  not  his  wealth,  gave  a  dozen 
spoons,  not  of  silver,  but  of  latten,  a  name  formerly 
used  to  signify  a  mixed  metal  resembling  brass,  as 
being  the  most  appropriate  gift  to  the  child  of  a  father 
so  learned." 

After  baptism  at  the  church  a  piece  of  white  linen 
was  put  upon  the  head  of  the  child.  This  was  called 
the  "chrisom"  or  "chrisom-cloth,"  and  originally  was 
worn  seven  days ;  but  after  the  Reformation  it  was 


82  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

kept  on  until  the  churching  of  the  mother.  If  the  child 
died  before  the  churching,  it  was  buried  with  the 
chrisom  upon  it.  In  parish  registers  such  infants  are 
often  referred  to  as  "chrisoms."  In  Henry  V.  (ii.  3.  12), 
Dame  Quickly  says  of  Falstaff,  "A'  made  a  finer 
end,  and  went  away  an  it  had  been  any  christom 
child  " ;  that  is,  his  death  was  like  that  of  a  young 
infant.  "Christom"  is  the  old  woman's  blunder  for 
"chrisom." 

The  "  bearing-cloth  "  was  the  mantle  which  covered 
the  child  when  it  was  carried  to  the  font.  In  the 
Winter  s  Tale  (iii.  3.  119),  the  Shepherd,  when  he  finds 
the  infant  Perdita  abandoned  on  the  sea-shore,  says  to 
his  son  :  "  Here's  a  sight  for  thee  ;  look  thee,  a  bearing- 
cloth  for  a  squire's  child  !  Look  thee  here ;  take  up, 
take  up,  boy  ;  open  't."  John  Stow,  writing  in  the  clos- 
ing years  of  the  i6th  century,  says  that  at  that  time 
it  was  not  customary  "for  godfathers  and  godmothers 
generally  to  give  plate  at  the  baptism  of  children,  but 
only  to  give  *  christening  shirts,'  with  little  bands  and 
cuffs,  wrought  either  with  silk  or  blue  thread.  The  best 
of  them,  for  chief  persons,  were  edged  with  a  small  lace 
of  black  silk  and  gold,  the  highest  price  of  which,  for 
great  men's  children,  was  seldom  above  a  noble  [a  gold 
coin  worth  6.r.  8</.],  and  the  common  sort,  two,  three,  or 
four,  and  six  shillings  apiece." 

The  "gossips'  feast"  (or  sponsors'  feast)  held  in 
honor  of  those  who  were  associated  in  the  christening, 
was  an  ancient  English  custom  often  mentioned  by 
dramatists  and  other  writers  of  the  Elizabethan  age. 
In  the  Comedy  of  Errors  (v.  i.  405)  the  Abbess,  when 
she  finds  that  the  twin  brothers  Antipholus  are  her 
long-lost  sons,  says  to  the  company  present : — 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  83 

"  Thirty-three  years  have  I  but  gone  in  travail 
Of  you,  my  sons ;  and  till  this  present  hour 
My  heavy  burthen  ne'er  delivered. — 
The  duke,  my  husband,  and  my  children  both, 
And  you  the  calendars  of  their  nativity, 
Go  to  a  gossip's  feast,  and  go  with  me ; 
After  so  long  grief,  such  nativity  !" 

And  the  Duke  replies,  "With  all  my  heart  I'll  gossip 
at  this  feast." 

In  the  Bachelor  s  Banquet  (1603)  we  find  an  allusion 
to  these  feasts:  "What  cost  and  trouble  will  it  be  to 
have  all  things  fine  against  the  Christening  Day;  what 
store  of  sugar,  biscuits,  comfets,  and  caraways,  marma- 
let,  and  marchpane,  with  all  kinds  of  sweet-suckers  and 
superfluous  banqueting  stuff,  with  a  hundred  other  odd 
and  needless  trifles,  which  at  that  time  must  fill  the 
pockets  of  dainty  dames."  It  would  appear  from  this 
that  the  women  at  the  feast  not  only  ate  what  they 
pleased,  but  carried  off  some  of  the  good  things  in 
their  pockets. 

A  writer  in  1666,  alluding  to  this  and  the  falling-off 
in  the  custom  of  giving  presents  at  christenings,  says  : — 

'  Especially  since  gossips  now 
Eat  more  at  christenings  than  bestow. 
Formerly  when  they  used  to  trowl 
Gilt  bowls  of  sack,  they  gave  the  bowl — 
Two  spoons  at  least ;  an  use  ill  kept : 
'T  is  well  now  if  our  own  be  left." 

He  insinuates  that  some  of  the  guests  were  as  likely 
to  steal  spoons  from  the  table  as  to  give  gilt  bowls  or 
"apostle  spoons"  to  the  infant. 


84  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

The  boy  Shakespeare  must  have  often  seen  this 
ceremony  of  christening.  His  sister  Joan  was  baptized 
when  he  was  five  years  old  ;  his  sister  Anna  when  he 
was  eight ;  his  brother  Richard  when  he  was  ten ;  and 
Edmund  when  he  was  sixteen. 


SUPERSTITIONS    CONNECTED    WITH    BIRTH    AND    BAPTISM. 

In  the  time  of  Shakespeare  babies  were  supposed  to 
be  exposed  to  other  risks  and  dangers  than  the  infantile 
disorders  to  which  they  are  subject.  Mary  Shake- 
speare, as  she  watched  the  cradle  of  the  infant  William, 
may  have  been  troubled  by  fears  and  anxieties  that 
never  occur  to  a  fond  mother  now. 

Witches  and  fairies  were  supposed  to  be  given  to 
stealing  beautiful  and  promising  children,  and  substi- 
tuting their  own  ugly  and  mischievous  offspring. 
Shakespeare  alludes  to  these  "changelings,"  as  they 
were  called,  in  the  Midsummer-Nigh  f s  Dream  (ii.  i. 
23),  where  Puck  says  that  Oberon  is  angry  with  Ti- 
tania 

"  Because  that  she  as  her  attendant  hath 
A  lovely  boy,  stolen  from  an  Indian  king; 
She  never  had  so  sweet  a  cha  igeling." 

This  "changeling  boy"  is  alluded  to  several  times 
afterwards  in  the  play. 

In  the  Winter's  Tale  (iii.  3.  122),  when  the  Shepherd 
finds  Perdita,  he  says :  "  It  was  told  me  I  should  be 
rich  by  the  fairies;  this  is  some  changeling";  and  the 
money  left  with  the  infant  he  believes  to  be  "fairy 
gold."  As  the  child  is  beautiful  he  does  not  take  it  to 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  85 

be  one  of  the  ugly  elves  left  in  exchange  for  a  stolen 
babe,  but  a  human  changeling  which  the  fairy  thieves 
have  for  some  reason  abandoned.  If  it  were  not  for 
the  gold  left  with  it,  he  might  suppose  that  the  stolen 
infant  had  been  temporarily  hidden  there.  We  have 
an  allusion  to  such  behavior  on  the  part  of  the  fairies 
in  Spenser's  Faerie  Queene  (i.  10.  65)  : — 

"  For  well  I  wote  thou  springst  from  ancient  race 
Of  Saxon  kinges,  that  have  with  mightie  hand, 
And  many  bloody  battailes  fought  in  face, 
High  reard  their  royall  throne  in  Britans  land, 
And  vanquisht  them,  unable  to  withstand  : 
From  thence  a  Faery  thee  unweeting  reft, 
There  as  thou  slepst  in  tender  swadling  band, 
And  her  base  Elfin  brood  there  for  thee  left : 
Such    men    do    Chaungelings   call,   so   chaung'd    by 
Faeries  theft. 

Thence  she  thee  brought  into  this  Faery  lond  [land]. 

And  in  a  heaped  furrow  did  thee  hyde ; 

Where  thee  a  Ploughman  all  unweeting  fond  [found], 

As  he  his  toylesome  teme  that  way  did  guyde, 

And  brought  thee  up  in  a  ploughmans  state  to  byde." 

In  i  Henry  IV.  (i.  i.  87),  the  King,  contrasting  the 
gallant  Hotspur  with  his  own  profligate  son,  exclaims  : 

"  O  that  it  could  be  proved 
That  some  night-tripping  fairy  had  exchang'd 
In  cradle-clothes  our  children  where  they  lay, 
And  call'd  mine  Percy,  his  Plantagenet ! 
Then  would  I  have  his  Harry,  and  he  mine." 

The  belief  in  the  "  evil  eye  "  was  another  supersti- 
tion  prevalent  in    Shakespeare's   day,  as  it  had   been 


86  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

from  the  earliest  times.  It  dates  back  to  old  Greek 
and  Roman  days,  being  mentioned  by  Theocritus, 
Virgil,  and  other  classical  writers.  In  Turkey  pas- 
sages from  the  Koran  used  to  be  painted  on  the  out- 
side of  houses  as  a  protection  against  this  malignant 
influence  of  witches,  who  were  supposed  to  cause  seri- 
ous injury  to  human  beings  and  animals  by  merely 
looking  at  them. 

Thomas  Lupton,  in  his  Book  of  Notable  Things  (1586) 
says :  "  The  eyes  be  not  only  instruments  of  enchant- 
ment, but  also  the  voice  and  evil  tongues  of  certain 
persons."  Bacon,  in  one  of  his  minor  works,  remarks : 
"  It  seems  some  have  been  so  curious  as  to  note  that 
the  times  when  the  stroke  or  percussion  of  an  envious 
eye  does  most  hurt  are  particularly  when  the  party  en- 
vied is  beheld  in  glory  and  triumph." 

Robert  Heron,  writing  in  1793  of  his  travels  in  Scot- 
land, says  :  "  Cattle  are  subject  to  be  injured  by  what 
is  called  an  evil  eye,  for  some  persons  are  supposed  to 
have  naturally  a  blasting  power  in  their  eyes,  with 
which  they  injure  whatever  offends  or  is  hopelessly  de- 
sired by  them.  Witches  and  warlocks  are  also  much 
disposed  to  wreak  their  malignity  on  cattle.  ...  It  is 
common  to  bind  into  a  cow's  tail  a  small  piece  of 
mountain-ash  wood,  as  a  charm  against  witchcraft." 

As  recently  as  August,  1839,  a  London  newspaper 
reports  a  case  in  which  a  woman  was  suspected  of 
the  evil  eye  by  a  fellow- lodger  merely  because  she 
squinted. 

In  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  the  possession  of 
the  evil  eye  may  not  have  been  supposed  due  to  any 
evil  purpose  or  character.  Good  people  might  be  born 
with  this  baleful  influence,  and  might  exert  it  against 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  87 

their  will  or  even  unconsciously.  It  is  said  that  Pius 
IX.,  soon  after  his  election  as  Pope,  when  he  was  per- 
haps the  best  loved  man  in  Italy,  happened  while  pass- 
ing through  the  streets  in  his  carriage  to  glance  up- 
ward at  an  open  window  at  which  a  nurse  was  stand- 
ing with  a  child.  A  few  minutes  afterward  the  nurse 
let  the  child  drop  and  it  was  killed.  Nobody  thought 
that  the  Pope  wished  this,  but  the  fancy  that  he 
had  the  evil  eye  became  universal  and  lasted  till  his 
death. 

In  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (v.  5.  87)  Pistol 
says  to  Falstaff:  "Vile  worm,  thou  wast  o'erlook'd 
even  in  thy  birth."  In  the  Merchant  of  Venice  (iii.  2. 
15)  Portia  playfully  refers  to  the  same  superstition  in 
talking  with  Bassanio  : — 

"  Beshrew  your  eyes, 

They  have  o'erlook'd  me  and  divided  me ; 
One  half  of  me  is  yours,  the  other  half  yours." 


CHARMS   AND    AMULETS. 

Against  these  dangers,  and  many  like  them  which  it 
would  take  an  entire  volume  to  enumerate,  protection 
was  sought  by  charms  and  amulets.  These  were  also 
supposed  to  prevent  or  cure  certain  diseases.  Magi- 
cians and  witches  employed  charms  to  accomplish  their 
evil  purposes ;  and  other  charms  were  used  to  thwart 
these  purposes  by  those  who  feared  mischief  from 
them. 

In  Othello  (i.  2.  62)  Brabantio,  the  father  of  Desde- 
mona,  suspects  that  the  Moor  has  won  his  daughter's 
love  by  charms.  He  says  to  Othello  : — 


88  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

"  O  thou  foul  thief,  where  hast  thou  stow'd  my  daughter? 
Damn'd  as  thou  art,  thou  hast  enchanted  her." 

In  the  preceding  scene,  talking  with  Roderigo,  he 
asks  : — 

"  Is  there  not  charms 

By  which  the  property  of  youth  and  maidhood 
May  be  abused  ?     Have  you  not  heard,  Roderigo, 
Of  some  such  thing?" 

And  Roderigo  replies:  "Yes,  sir,  I  have  indeed." 
When  Othello  afterward  tells  how  he  had  gained  the 
maiden's  love,  he  says  in  conclusion  : — 

"  She  loved  me  for  the  dangers  I  had  pass'd, 
And  I  loved  her  that  she  did  pity  them. 
This  only  is  the  witchcraft  I  have  used." 

In  the  Midsummer- Night 's  Dream  (i.  i.  27)  Egeus 
accuses  Lysander  of  wooing  Hermia  by  magic  arts  : 
"This  man  hath  bewitch'd  the  bosom  of  my  child." 

In  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  (iii.  2.  72)  Benedick, 
when  his  friends  banter  him  for  pretending  to  have 
the  toothache,  replies :  "  Yet  this  is  no  charm  for  the 
toothache." 

John  Melton,  in  his  Astrologaster  (1620),  says  it  is 
vulgarly  believed  that  "  toothaches,  agues,  cramps,  and 
fevers,  and  many  other  diseases  may  be  healed  by 
mumbling  a  few  strange  words  over  the  head  of  the 
diseased." 

Written  charms  in  prose  or  verse — or  neither,  being 
nonsensical  combinations  of  words,  letters,  or  signs — 
were  in  great  favor  then,  as  before  and  since.  The 
unmeaning  word  abracadabra  was  much  used  in  in- 


PORCH,    STRATFORD   CHURCH 


SHAKESPEARE   THE   BOY  89 

cantations,  and  worn  as  an  amulet  was  supposed  to 
cure  or  prevent  certain  ailments.  It  was  necessary  to 
write  it  in  the  following  form,  if  one  would  secure  its 
full  potency.: — 

ABRACADABRA 

ABRACADABR 

ABRACADAB 

ABRACADA 

A   B   R   A   C   A   D 

A   B   R   A   C   A 

A   B   R   A   C 

A   B   R   A 

A   B   R 

A   B 

A 

A  manuscript  in  the  British  Museum  contains  this 
note :  "  Mr.  Banester  saith  that  he  healed  200  in  one 
year  of  an  ague  by  hanging  abracadabra  about  their 
necks." 

Thomas  Lodge,  in  his  Incarnate  Divels  (1596) 
refers  to  written  charms  thus :  "  Bring  him  but  a 
table  [tablet]  of  lead,  with  crosses  (and  '  Adonai '  or 
'Elohim'  written  in  it),  he  thinks  it  will  heal  the 
ague." 

Certain  trees,  like  the  elder  and  the  ash,  were  sup- 
posed to  furnish  valuable  material  for  charms  and  am- 
ulets. A  writer  in  1651  says:  "The  common  people 
keep  as  a  great  secret  the  leaves  of  the  elder  which 
they  have  gathered  the  last  day  of  April  •  which  to  dis- 
appoint the  charms  of  witches  they  affix  to  their  doors 
and  windows."  An  amulet  against  erysipelas  was 
made  of  "  elder  on  which  the  sun  never  shined,"  a 


90  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

"  piece  betwixt  two  knots  "  being  hung  about  the  pa- 
tient's neck. 

In  a  book  published  in  1599  it  is  asserted  that  "if 
one  eat  three  small  pomegranate-flowers,  they  say  for 
a  whole  year  he  shall  be  safe  from  all  manner  of  eye 
sore."  According  to  the  same  authority,  "  it  hath  been 
and  yet  is  a  thing  which  superstition  hath  believed,  that 
the  body  anointed  with  the  juice  of  chicory  is  very 
available  to  obtain  the  favor  of  great  persons." 

Wearing  a  bay-leaf  was  a  charm  against  lightning. 
Robert  Greene,  Penelope  s  Web  (1601),  says  :  "  He  which 
weareth  the  bay  leaf  is  privileged  from  the  prejudice  of 
thunder."  In  Webster's  White  Devil  (1612)  Cornelia 
says : — 

" Reach  the  bays : 

I'll  tie  a  garland  here  about  his  head; 
'T  will  keep  my  boy  from  lightning." 

Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  (162 1),  remarks : 
"  Amulets,  and  things  to  be  borne  about,  I  find  pre- 
scribed, taxed  [condemned]  by  some,  approved  by 
others.  ...  I  say  with  Renodeus,  they  are  not  alto- 
gether to  be  rejected." 

Reginald  Scot,  in  his  Discoverie  of  Witchcraft,  pub- 
lished in  1584,  in  which  he  exposed  and  ridiculed  the 
pretensions  of  witches,  magicians,  and  astrologers,  tells 
an  amusing  story  of  an  old  woman  who  cured  diseases 
by  muttering  a  certain  form  of  words  over  the  person 
afflicted ;  for  which  service  she  always  received  a  penny 
and  a  loaf  of  bread.  At  length,  terrified  by  threats  of 
being  burned  as  a  witch,  she  owned  that  her  whole  con- 
juration consisted  in  these  lines,  which  she  repeated  in 
a  low  voice  near  the  head  of  the  patient : — 


SHAKESPEARE    TPIE  BOY  91 

"  Thy  loaf  in  rny  hand, 

And  thy  penny  in  my  purse, 
Thou  art  never  the  better, 
And  I — am  never  the  worse." 

Scot  was  one  of  the  few  men  of  that  age  who  dared 
to  assail  the  general  belief  in  witchcraft  and  magic; 
and  James  I.  ordered  his  book  to  be  burned  by  the 
common  hangman.  That  monarch  also  wrote  his  De- 
monology,  as  he  tells  us,  "chiefly  against  the  damnable 
opinions  of  Wierus  and  Scot ;  the  latter  of  whom  is 
not  ashamed  in  public  print  to  deny  there  can  be  such 
a  thing  as  witchcraft."  Eminent  divines  and  scientific 
writers  joined  in  the  attempt  to  refute  this  bold  attack 
upon  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  time. 

We  infer,  from  certain  passages  in  the  plays,  that 
Shakespeare  had  read  Scot's  book;  and  we  have  good 
reason  to  believe  that,  like  Scot,  he  was  far  enough  in 
advance  of  his  age  to  see  the  absurdity  of  the  popular 
faith  in  magic  and  witchcraft.  In  his  boyhood  we  may 
suppose  that  he  believed  in  them,  as  his  parents  and 
everybody  in  Stratford  doubtless  did ;  but  when  he  be- 
came a  man  he  appears  to  have  regarded  them  only  as 
curious  old  folk  -  lore  from  which  he  could  now  and 
then  draw  material  for  use  in  his  plays  and  poems. 

The  illustrations  here  given  of  the  vulgar  supersti- 
tions of  Shakespeare's  time  are  merely  a  few  out  of 
thousands  equally  interesting  to  be  found  in  books  on 
the  subject,  or  scattered  through  the  dramatic  and  other 
literature  of  the  period. 


PART  III 
AT     SCHOOL 


INNER    COURT,  GRAMMAR    SCHOOL 


THE    STRATFORD   GRAMMAR    SCHOOL 

THE  Stratford  Grammar  School,  as  we  have  already 
seen  (page  38  above),  was  an  ancient  institution  in 
Shakespeare's  day,  having  been  originally  founded  in 
the  first  half  of  the  i5th  century  by  the  Guild,  and, 
after  the  dissolution  of  that  body,  created  by  royal  char- 
ter, in  June,  1553,  "The  King's  New  School  of  Strat- 
ford-upon-Avon."  The  charter  describes  it  as  "a  cer- 


c;6  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

tain  free  grammar  school,  to  consist  of  one  master  and 
teacher,  hereafter  for  ever  to  endure."  The  master  was 
to  be  appointed  by  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  was  to  re- 
ceive twenty  pounds  a  year  from  the  income  of  certain 
lands  given  by  the  King  for  that  purpose.  A  part  of 
the  expenses  of  the  school  is  to  this  day  paid  from 
the  same  royal  endowment. 

The  school-house  stood,  as  it  still  does,  close  beside 
the  Guild  Chapel,  the  school-rooms  on  the  second  story 
being  originally  reached  by  an  outside  staircase,  roofed 
with  tile,  which  was  demolished  about  fifty  years  ago. 
The  building  was  old  and  out  of  repair  in  Shakespeare's 
boyhood.  In  1568  it  was  partially  renovated,  and  while 
the  work  was  going  on  the  school  was  transferred  to  the 
adjoining  chapel,  as  it  may  have  been  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances on  more  than  one  former  occasion.  This 
probably  suggested  Shakespeare's  comparison  of  Mal- 
volio  to  "  a  pedant  that  keeps  a  school  i'  the  church  " 
(Twelfth  Night,  iii.  2.  80).  In  1595  the  holding  of  school 
in  church  or  chapel  was  forbidden  by  statute. 

The  training  in  an  English  free  day-school  in  the 
time  of  Elizabeth  depended  much  on  the  attainments 
of  the  master,  and  these  varied  greatly,  bad  teachers 
being  the  rule  and  good  ones  the  exception.  "  It  is 
a  general  plague  and  complaint  of  the  whole  land," 
writes  Henry  Peacham  in  the  iyth  century,  "for,  for 
one  discreet  and  able  teacher,  you  shall  find  twenty 
ignorant  and  careless;  who  (among  so  many  fertile  and 
delicate  wits  as  England  affordeth),  whereas  they  make 
one  scholar,  they  mar  ten."  Roger  Ascham,  some  years 
earlier,  had  written  in  the  same  strain.  In  many  towns 
the  office  of  schoolmaster  was  conferred  on  "  an  ancient 
citizen  of  no  great  learning."  Sometimes  a  quack  con- 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 


97 


THE  SCHOOL-ROOM    AS   IT  WAS 


juring  doctor  had  the  position,  like  Pinch  in  the  Comedy 
of  Errors  (v.  i.  237),  whom  Antipholus  of  Ephesus  de- 
scribes thus: — 

"Along  with  them 

They  brought  one  Pinch,  a  hungry  lean-fac'd  villain, 
A  mere  anatomy,  a  mountebank, 
A  threadbare  juggler,  and  a  fortune-teller, 
A  needy,  hollow-eyed,  sharp-looking  wretch, 
A  living  dead  man.     This  pernicious  slave, 
»  orsooth,  took  on  him  as  a  conjurer ; 


98  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

And,  gazing  in  mine  eyes,  feeling  my  pulse, 
And  with  no  face,  as  't  were,  out-facing  me, 
Cries  out,  I  was  possess'd." 

Pinch  is  not  called  a  schoolmaster  in  the  text  of  the 
play,  but  in  the  stage-direction  of  the  earliest  edition 
(1623)  he  is  described,  on  his  entrance,  as  "a  schoole- 
master  calPd  Pinch." 

In  old  times  the  village  pedagogue  often  had  the  rep- 
utation of  being  a  conjurer;  that  is,  of  one  who  could 
exorcise  evil  spirits  —  perhaps  because  he  was  the  one 
man  in  the  village,  except  the  priest,  who  could  speak 
Latin,  the  only  language  supposed  to  be  "  understanded 
of  devils." 

A  certain  master  of  St.  Alban's  School  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  i6th  century  declared  that  "by  no  entreaty 
would  he  teach  any  scholar  he  had,  further  than  his 
father  had  learned  before  them,"  arguing  that,  if  edu- 
cated beyond  that  point,  they  would  "  prove  saucy 
rogues  and  control  their  fathers." 

The  masters  of  the  Stratford  school  at  the  time  when 
Shakespeare  probably  attended  it  were  university  men 
of  at  least  fair  scholarship  and  ability,  as  we  infer  from 
the  fact  that  they  rapidly  gained  promotion  in  the  church. 
Thomas  Hunt,  who  was  master  during  the  most  impor- 
tant years  of  William's  school  course,  became  vicar  of  the 
neighboring  village  of  Luddington.  "  In  the  pedantic 
Holofernes  of  Lovers  Labour's  Lost,  Shakespeare  has 
carefully  portrayed  the  best  type  of  the  rural  school- 
master, as  in  Pinch  he  has  portrayed  the  worst,  and 
the  freshness  and  fulness  of  detail  imparted  to  the 
former  portrait  may  easily  lead  to  the  conclusion  that 
its  author  was  drawing  upon  his  own  experience."  We 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  gg 

need  not  suppose  that  Holofernes  is  the  exact  counter- 
part of  Master  Hunt,  but  the  latter  was  probably,  like 
the  former,  a  thorough  scholar. 


WHAT  SHAKESPEARE  LEARNT  AT  SCHOOL. 

We  may  imagine  young  William  wending  his  way  to 
the  Grammar  School  for  the  first  time  on  a  May  morn- 
ing in  1571.  If  he  was  born  on  the  23d  of  April,  1564 
(or  May  3d,  according  to  our  present  calendar),  he  had 
now  reached  the  age  of  seven  years,  at  which  he  could 
enter  the  school.  The  only  other  requirement  for  ad- 
mission, in  the  case  of  a  Stratford  boy,  was  that  he 
should  be  able  to  read;  and  this  he  had  probably 
learned  at  home  with  the  aid  of  a  "horn-book,"  such 
as  he  afterwards  referred  to  in  Love  "s  Labour  's  Lost 
(v.  i.  49):— 

"  Yes,  yes ;  he  teaches  boys  the  horn-book. 
What  is  a,  b,  spelt  backward  with  the  horn  on  its  head  ?" 

This  primer  of  our  forefathers,  which  continued 
in  common  use  in  England  down  to  the  middle  of 
the  last  century  at  least,  was  a  single  printed  leaf, 
usually  set  in  a  frame  of  wood  and  covered  with  a 
thin  plate  of  transparent  horn,  from  which  it  got 
its  name.  There  was  generally  a  handle  to  hold  it 
by,  and  through  a  hole  in  the  handle  a  cord  was  put 
by  which  the  "book"  was  slung  to  the  girdle  of  the 
scholar. 

In  a  book  printed  in  1731  we  read  of  "a  child,  in  a 
bodice  coat  and  leading-strings,  with  a  horn-book  tied 
to  her  side."  In  1715  we  find  mention  of  the  price  of 


100 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 


a  horn-book  as  twopence;  but  Shakespeare's  probably 
cost  only  half  as  much. 

The  leaf  had  at  the  top  the  alphabet  large  and  small, 
with  a  list  of  the  vowels  and  a  string  of  easy  monosyl- 
lables of  the  ab,  eb,  ib  sort,  and  a  copy  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  The  matter  varied  somewhat  from  time  to 
time. 

Here  is  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  text  of  one 
specimen,  from  a  recent  catalogue  of  a  London  anti- 
quarian bookseller,  who  prices  it  at  twelve  guineas,  or 
a  trifle  more  than  sixty  dollars.  These  old  horn-books 
are  now  excessively  rare,  having  seldom  survived  the 
wear  and  tear  of  the  nursery. 


4-Aabcdefghijklmnopq 
rfstuvwxyz&  aeiou 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ 
RSTUVWXYZ 


a  e  i  o  u 
abebibobub 
ac  ec  ic  oc  uc 
adedidodud 


a  e  i  o  u 
babebi  bobu 
ca  ce  ci  co  cu 
dadedidodu 


In  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghoft.  Amen, 

/^\U  R  Father,  which  art  in 
\_)  Heaven,  hallowed  be  thy 
Name  ;  thy  Kingdom  come, 
thy  Will  be  done  on  Earth, 
as  it  is  in  Heaven.  Give  us 
this  Day  our  daily  Bread;  and 
forgive  us  our  trefpaffes,  as 
we  forgive  them  thattrefpafs 
againft  us  :  And  lead  us  not 
into  Temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  Evil.  Amen. 


SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY  101 

The  alphabet  was  prefaced  by  a  cross,  whence  it 
came  to  be  called  the  Christ  Cross  row,*  corrupted 
into  "criss-cross-row"  or  contracted  into  "cross-row"; 
as  in  Richard  III.  (i.  i.  55),  where  Clarence  says  : — 

"  He  harkens  after  prophecies  and  dreams, 
And  from  the  cross-row  plucks  the  letter  G, 
And  says  a  wizard  told  him  that  by  G 
His  issue  disinherited  should  be." 

Shenstone  alludes  to  the  horn-book  in  The  School- 
mistress : — 

"  Their  books  of  stature  small  they  take  in  hand, 
Which  with  pellucid  horn  secured  are 
To  save  from  ringers  wet  the  letters  fair." 

Possibly,  the  boy  William,  instead  of  a  horn-book, 
had  an  "  A-B-C  book,"  which  often  contained  a  cate- 
chism, in  addition  to  the  elementary  reading  matter. 
To  this  we  have  an  allusion  in  King  John,  i.  i.  196: — 

"  Now  your  traveller — 

He  and  his  toothpick  at  my  worship's  mess, 
And  when  my  knightly  stomach  is  sufficed, 
Why,  then  I  suck  my  teeth  and  catechise 
My  picked  man  of  countries :  '  My  dear  sir,'— 
Thus,  leaning  on  my  elbow,  I  begin, — 
'  I  shall  beseech  you  ' — that  is  question  now ; 
And  then  comes  answer  like  an  Absey  book." 

*  Some  believe  it  got  the  name  from  having  the  letters  arranged 
in  the  form  of  a  cross,  as  they  sometimes  were  ;  but  the  other  ex- 
planation seems  to  me  the  more  probable. 


102  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

"Absey"  is  one  of  many  old  spellings  for  "A-B-C" 
— abece,  apece,  apecy,  apsie,  absee,  abcee,  abeesee,  etc. 

It  was  not  a  long  walk  that  our  seven-year-old  boy 
had  to  take  in  going  to  school.  Turning  the  corner  of 
Henley  Street,  where  his  father  lives  (compare  the 
map,  page  42  above),  he  passes  into  the  High  Street, 
on  which  (though  the  street  changes  its  name  twice 
before  we  get  there)  the  Guildhall  is  situated.  The 
adjoining  Guild  Chapel  is  separated  only  by  a  nar- 
row lane  from  the  "great 
house,"  as  it  was  called, 
the  handsomest  in  '  all 
Stratford. 

The  child,  as  he  passes 
that  grand  mansion,  little 
dreams  that,  some  twenty- 
five  years  later,  he  will 

DESK    SAID    TO    BE   SHAKESPEARE'S  buy      it      for      llis      OWtt      TCSi- 

dence. 

The  school-room  probably  looks  much  the  same  to- 
day as  it  did  when  William  studied  there,  the  modern 
plastered  ceiling  which  hid  the  oak  roof  of  the  olden 
time  having  been  removed.  The  wainscoted  walls, 
with  the  small  windows  high  above  the  floor,  are  evi- 
dently ancient.  An  old  desk,  which  may  have  been  the 
master's,  and  a  few  rude  forms,  or  benches,  are  now  the 
only  furniture;  for  the  school  was  long  since  removed 
to  ampler  and  more  convenient  quarters.  A  desk,  said 
with  no  authority  whatever  to  have  been  used  by  Shake- 
speare, is  preserved  in  the  Henley  Street  house. 

What  did  William  study  in  the  Grammar  School  ? 
Not  much  except  arithmetic  and  Latin,  with  perhaps  a 
little  Greek  and  a  mere  smattering  of  other  branches. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  103 

His  first  lessons  in  Latin  were  probably  from  two 
well-known  books  of  the  time,  the  Accidence  and  the. 
Sententice  Pueriles.  The  examination  of  Master  Page 
by  the  Welsh  parson  and  schoolmaster,  Sir  Hugh 
Evans,  in  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (iv.  i)  is  taken 
almost  verbally  from  the  Accidence.  Mrs.  Page,  accom- 
panied by  her  son  and  the  illiterate  Dame  Quickly, 
meets  Sir  Hugh  in  the  street,  and  this  dialogue  en- 
sues : — 


.  Page.  How  now,  Sir  Hugh  !  no  school  to-day  ? 

Evans.  No ;  master  Slender  is  get  the  boys  leave  to 
play. 

Quickly.  Blessing  of  his  heart ! 

Mrs.  Page.  Sir  Hugh,  my  husband  says,  my  son  profits 
nothing  in  the  world  at  his  book.  I  pray  you,  ask  him 
some  questions  in  his  accidence. 

Evans.  Come  hither,  William ;  hold  up  your  head ;  come. 

Mrs.  Page.  Come  on,  sirrah  ;  hold  up  your  head;  answer 
your  master,  be  not  afraid. 

Evans.  William,  how  many  numbers  is  in  nouns  ? 
William.  Two. 

Quickly.  Truly,  I  thought  there  had  been  one  number 
more,  because  they  say,  'od's  nouns. 

Evans.  Peace  your  tattlings  ! — What  is  fair,  William  ? 

William.  Pul'cher.     • 

Quickly.  Pole-cats !  there  are  fairer  things  than  pole- 
cats, sure. 

Evans.  You  are  a  very  simplicity  'oman  ;  I  pray  you 
peace.— What  is  lapis,  William  ? 

William.  A  stone. 

Evans.  And  what  is  a  stone,  William  ? 

William.  A  pebble. 

Evans.  No,  it  is  lapis:  I  pray  you  remember  in  your 
prain. 


104  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

William.  Lapis. 

Evans.  That  is  a  good  William,  What  is  he,  William, 
that  does  lend  articles  ? 

William.  Articles  are  borrowed  of  the  pronoun  ;  and 
be  thus  declined,  Singulariter,  nominative,  hie,  hcec,  hoc. 

Evans.  Nominativo,  hig,  hag,  hog  ;  —  pray  you,  mark  : 
genitivo,  hujus.     Well,  what  is  your  accusative  case  ? 
William.  Accusativo,  hinc. 

Evans.  I  pray  you,  have  your  remembrance,  child ;  ac- 
cusativo,  hung,  hang,  hog. 

Quickly.  Hang-hog  is  Latin  for  bacon,  I  warrant  you. 

Evans.  Leave  your  prabbles,  oman. — What  is  the  foca- 
tive  case,  William  ? 

William.  O  ! — vocativo,  O  ! . 

Evans.  Remember,  William  ;  focative  is  caret. 

Quickly.  And  that's  a  good  root. 

Evans.  'Oman,  forbear. 

Mrs.  Page.  Peace  ! 

******* 

Quickly.  You  do  ill  to  teach  the  child  such  words. — He 
teaches  him  to  hick  and  to  hack,  which  they'll  do  fast 
enough  of  themselves.  Fie  upon  you  ! 

Evans.  'Oman,  art  thou  lunatics?  hast  thou  no  under- 
standings for  thy  cases,  and  the  numbers  of  the  genders  ? 
Thou  art  as  foolish  Christian  creatures  as  I  would  desires. 

Mrs.  Page.  Prithee,  hold  thy  peace. 

Evans.  Show  me  now,  William,  some  declensions  of 
your  pronouns. 

William.  Forsooth,  I  have  forgot. 

Evans.  It  is  qui,  quce,  quod ;  if  you  forget  your  qtizs, 
your  quces,  and  your  quods,  you  must  be  preeches.  Go 
your  ways,  and  play ;  go. 

Mrs.  Page.  He  is  a  better  scholar  than  I  thought  he  was. 

Evans.  He  is  a  good  sprag  memory.  Farewell,  mistress 
Page. 

Mrs.  Page.  Adieu,  good  Sir  Hugh." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  105 

The  Sententicz  Pueriles  was  a  collection  of  brief  sen- 
tences from  many  authors,  including  moral  and  relig- 
ious passages  intended  for  the  use  of  the  boys  on 
Saints'  days. 

The  Latin  Grammar  studied  by  William  was  certain- 
ly Lilly's,  the  standard  manual  of  the  time,  as  long  be- 
fore and  after.  The  first  edition  was  published  in 
1513,  and  one  was  issued  as  late  as  1817,  or  more  than 
three  hundred  years  afterward.  In  The  Taming  of  the 
Shrew  (i.  i.  167)  a  passage  from  Terence  is  quoted  in 
the  modified  form  in  which  it  appears  in  this  grammar. 

There  are  certain  people,  by  the  way,  who  believe 
that  Shakespeare's  plays  were  written  by  Francis 
Bacon.  Can  we  imagine  the  sage  of  St.  Albans,  famil- 
iar as  he  was  with  classical  literature,  going  to  his  old 
Latin  Grammar  for  a  quotation  from  Terence,  and  not 
to  the  original  works  of  that  famous  playwright  ? 

In  Love's  Labour  's  Lost  (iv.  2.  95)  Holof ernes  quotes 
the  "  good  old  Mantuan,"  as  he  calls  him,  the  passage 
being  evidently  a  reminiscence  of  Shakespeare's  school- 
boy Latin.  The  "Mantuan"  is  not  Virgil,  as  one 
might  at  first  suppose  (and  as  Mr.  Andrew  Lang,  who 
is  a  good  scholar,  assumes  in  his  pleasant  comments 
on  the  play  in  Harper's  Magazine  for  May,  1893),  but 
Baptista  Mantuanus,  or  Giovanni  Battista  Spagnuoli 
(or  Spagnoli),  who  got  the  name  Mantuanus  from  his 
birthplace. 

He  died  in  1516,  less  than  fifty  years  before  Shake- 
speare was  born,  and  was  the  author  of  sundry  Eclogues, 
which  the  pedants  of  that  day  preferred  to  Virgil's,  and 
which  were  much  read  in  schools.  The  first  Eclogue 
begins  with  the  passage  quoted  by  Kolofernes. 

A  little  earlier  in   the  same  scene  the  old  pedant 


io6  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

gives  us  a  quotation  from  Lilly's  Grammar.  Other  bits 
of  Latin  with  which  he  interlards  his  talk  are  taken, 
with  little  or  no  variation,  from  the  Sententitz  Pueriles 
or  similar  Elizabethan  phrase-books. 

THE    NEGLECT   OF    ENGLISH. 

No  English  was  taught  in  the  Stratford  school 
then,  or  for  many  years  after.  It  is  only  in  our  own 
day  that  it  has  begun  to  receive  proper  attention  in 
schools  of  this  grade  in  England,  or  indeed  in  our  own 
country. 

It  is  interesting,  however,  to  know  that  the  first  Eng- 
lish schoolmaster  to  urge  the  study  of  the  vernacular 
tongue  was  a  contemporary  of  Shakespeare.  In  1561 
Richard  Mulcaster,  who  had  been  educated  at  King's 
College,  Cambridge,  and  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  was 
appointed  head-master  of  Merchant-Taylors  School  in 
London,  which  had  just  been  founded  as  a  feeder,  or 
preparatory  school,  for  St.  John's  College,  Oxford.  In 
his  Elementarie,  published  in  1582,  he  has  the  following 
plea  for  the  study  of  English  : — 

"  But  because  I  take  upon  me  in  this  Ele'mentarie, 
besides  some  friendship  to  secretaries  for  the  pen,  and 
to  correctors  for  the  print,  to  direct  such  people  as 
teach  children  to  read  and  write  English,  and  the  read- 
ing must  needs  be  such  as  the  writing  leads  unto,  there- 
fore, before  I  meddle  with  any  particular  precept,  to 
direct  the  reader,  I  will  thoroughly  rip  up  the  whole 
certainty  of  our  English  writing,  so  far  forth  and  with 
such  assurance  as  probability  can  make  me,  because  it 
is  a  thing  both  proper  to  my  argument  and  profitable 
to  my  country.  For  our  natural  tongue  being  as  bene- 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  '      107 

ficial  unto  us  for  our  needful  delivery  as  any  other  is  to 
the  people  which  use  it;  and  having  as  pretty  and  as 
fair  observations  in  it  as  any  other  hath  ;  and  being  as 
ready  to  yield  to  any  rule  of  art  as  any  other  is ;  why 
should  I  not  take  some  pains  to  find  out  the  right  writ- 
ing of  ours  as  other  countrymen  have  done  to  find  the 
like  in  theirs?  and  so  much  the  rather  because  it  is 
pretended  that  the  writing  thereof  is  marvellous  un- 
certain, and  scant  to  be  recovered  from  extreme  con- 
fusion, without  some  change  of  as  great  extremity  ? 

"  I  mean  therefore  so  to  deal  in  it  as  I  may  wipe  away 
that  opinion  of  either  uncertainty  for  confusion  or  im- 
possibility for  direction,  that  both  the  natural  English 
may  have  wherein  to  rest,  and  the  desirous  stranger 
may  have  whereby  to  learn.  For  the  performance 
whereof,  and  mine  own  better  direction,  I  will  first  ex- 
amine those  means  whereby  other  tongues  of  most 
sacred  antiquity  have  been  brought  to  art  and  form  of 
discipline  for  their  right  writing,  to  the  end  that,  by 
following  their  way,  I  may  hit  upon  their  right,  and  at 
the  least  by  their  precedent  devise  the  like  to  theirs, 
where  the  use  of  our  tongue  and  the  property  of  our 
dialect  will  not  yield  flat  to  theirs. 

"  That  done,  I  will  set  all  the  variety  of  our  now  writ- 
ing, and  the  uncertain  force  of  all  our  letters,  in  as 
much  certainty  as  any  writing  can  be,  by  these  seven 
precepts : 

"  i.  General  rule,  which  concerneth  the  property  and 
use  of  each  letter. 

"  2.  Proportion,  which  reduceth  all  words  of  one 
sound  to  the  same  writing. 

"3.  Composition,  which  teacheth  how  to  write  one 
word  made  of  more. 


108  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

"  4.  Derivation,  which  examineth  the  offspring  of 
every  original. 

"  5.  Distinction,  which  bewrayeth  the  difference  of 
sound  and  force  in  letters  by  some  written  figure  or 
accent. 

"  6.  Enfranchisement,  which  directeth  the  right  writ- 
ing of  all  incorporate  foreign  words. 

"  7.  Prerogative,  which  declareth  a  reservation  wherein 
common  use  will  continue  her  precedence  in  our  Eng- 
lish writing  as  she  hath  done  everywhere  else,  both  for 
the  form  of  the  letter,  in  some  places,  which  likes  the 
pen  better ;  and  for  the  difference  in  writing,  where 
some  particular  caveat  will  check  a  common  rule. 

"  In  all  these  seven  I  will  so  examine  the  particulari- 
ties of  our  tongue,  as  either  nothing  shall  seem  strange 
at  all,  or  if  anything  do  seem,  yet  it  shall  not  seem  so 
strange  but  that  either  the  self  same,  or  the  very  like 
unto  it,  or  the  more  strange  than  it  is,  shall  appear  to 
be  in  those  things  which  are  more  familiar  unto  us  for 
extraordinary  learning  than  required  of  us  for  our  or- 
dinary use. 

"  And  forasmuch  as  the  eye  will  help  many  to  write 
right  by  a  seen  precedent,  which  either  cannot  under- 
stand or  cannot  entend  to  understand  the  reason  of  a 
rule,  therefore  in  the  end  of  this  treatise  for  right  writ- 
ing I  purpose  to  set  down  a  general  table  of  most  Eng- 
lish words,  by  way  of  precedent,  to  help  such  plain 
people  as  cannot  entend  the  understanding  of  a  rule, 
which  requireth  both  time  and  conceit  in  perceiving, 
but  can  easily  run  to  a  general  table,  which  is  readier 
to  their  hand.  By  the  which  table  I  shall  also  confirm 
the  right  of  my  rules,  that  they  hold  throughout,  and 
by  multitude  of  examples  help  some  in  precepts." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  109 

Thirty  years  later,  in  1612,  another  teacher  followed 
Mulcaster  in  advocating  the  study  of  English.  This 
was  John  Brinsley,  who,  in  The  Grammar  Schoole,  writes 
thus  :— 

"There  seems  unto  me  to  be  a  very  main  want  in  all 
our  grammar  schools  generally,  or  in  the  most  of  them, 
whereof  I  have  heard  some  great  learned  men  to  com- 
plain ;  that  there  is  no  care  had  in  respect  to  train  up 
scholars  so  as  they  may  be  able  to  express  their  minds 
purely  and  readily  in  our  own  tongue,  and  to  increase 
in  the  practice  of  it,  as  well  as  in  the  Latin  and  Greek ; 
whereas  our  chief  endeavour  should  be  for  it,  and  that 
for  these  reasons : 

"  i.  Because  that  language  which  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men  amongst  us  are  to  have  most  use  of, 
both  in  speech  and  writing,  is  our  own  native  tongue. 

"  2.  The  purity  and  elegance  of  our  own  language 
is  to  be  esteemed  a  chief  part  of  the  honour  of  our 
nation,  which  we  all  ought  to  advance  as  much  as  in 
us  lieth.  .  .  . 

"  3.  Because  of  those  which  are  for  a  time  trained  up 
in  schools,  there  are  very  few  which  proceed  in  learning, 
in  comparison  of  them  that  follow  other  callings." 

Among  the  means  which  he  recommends  "  to  obtain 
this  benefit  of  increasing  in  our  English  tongue  as  in 
the  Latin  "  are  "  continual  practice  of  English  gram- 
matical translations,"  and  "translating  and  writing 
English,  with  some  other  school  exercises." 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  study  of  our  mother 
tongue  continued  to  be  generally  ignored  in  English 
schools  for  nearly  three  centuries  after  Mulcaster  and 
Brinsley  had  thus  called  attention  to  its  educational 
value. 


no  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

SCHOOL    LIFE    IN    SHAKESPEARE'S    DAY. 

From  Brinsley's  book  we  get  an  idea  of  the  daily  life 
of  a  grammar-school  boy  in  1612,  which  probably  did 
not  differ  materially  from  what  it  was  in  Shakespeare's 
boyhood. 

In  his  chapter  "  Of  school  times,  intermissions,  and 
recreations,"  Brinsley  says  :  "  The  school-time  should 
begin  at  six :  all  who  write  Latin  to  make  their  ex- 
ercises which  were  given  overnight,  in  that  hour  before 
seven."  To  make  boys  punctual,  "  so  many  of  them  as 
are  there  at  six,  to  have  their  places  as  they  had  them 
by  election  or  the  day  before  :  all  who  come  after  six, 
every  one  to  sit  as  he  cometh,  and  so  to  continue  that 
day,  and  until  he  recover  his  place  again  by  the  elec- 
tion of  the  form  or  otherwise.*  If  any  cannot  be 
brought  by  this,  them  to  be  noted  in  the  black  bill  by 
a  special  mark,  and  feel  the  punishment  thereof:  and 
sometimes  present  correction  to  be  used  for  terror;" 
that  is,  to  frighten  the  rest 

The  school  work  is  to  go  on  from  six  in  the  morning 
as  follows :  "  Thus  they  are  to  continue  until  nine.  .  .  . 
Then  at  nine  to  let  them  to  have  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
at  least,  or  more,  for  intermission,  either  for  breakfast, 
or  else  for  the  necessity  of  every  one,  or  for  honest  rec- 
reation, or  to  prepare  their  exercises  against  the  mas- 
ter's coming  in.  After,  each  of  them  to  be  in  his  place 
in  an  instant,  upon  the  knocking  of  the  door  or  some 
other  sign,  ...  so  to  continue  until  eleven  of  the  clock, 
or  somewhat  after,  to  countervail  the  time  of 'the  inter- 

*  In  a  preceding  chapter  we  are  told  that  it  was  a  rule  for  ' '  all 
of  a  form  to  name  who  is  the  best  of  their  form,  and  who  is  the 
best  next  him." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  in 

mission  at  nine;"  that  is,  apparently,  to  make  the 
morning  session  full  five  hours. 

For  the  afternoon  the  schedule  is  as  follows :  "  To 
be  again  all  ready  and  in  their  places  at  one,  in  an  in- 
stant ;  to  continue  until  three,  or  half  an  hour  after ; 
then  to  have  another  quarter  of  an  hour  or  more,  as  at 
nine,  for  drinking  and  necessities ;  so  to  continue  till 
half  an  hour  after  five  :  thereby  in  that  half  hour  to 
countervail  the  time  at  three ;  then  to  end  with  read- 
ing a  piece  of  a  chapter,  and  with  singing  two  staves 
of  a  Psalm  :  lastly,  with  prayer  to  be  used  by  the 
master." 

These  closing  exercises  would  fill  out  the  time  until 
about  six  o'clock,  making  the  school  day  nearly  ten 
hours  long,  exclusive  of  the  two  intermissions  at  nine 
and  three  and  the  interval  of  somewhat  more  than  an 
hour  at  noon. 

It  would  seem  that  some  objection  had  been  made 
to  the  intermissions  at  nine  and  three,  on  the  ground 
that  the  boys  then  "do  nothing  but  play";  but  Brins- 
ley  believed  that  the  boys  did  their  work  the  better 
for  these  brief  respites  from  it.  He  adds :  "  It  is  very 
requisite  also  that  they  should  have  weekly  one  part  of 
an  afternoon  for  recreation,  as  a  reward  of  diligence, 
obedience,  and  profiting ;  and  that  to  be  appointed  at 
the  master's  discretion,  either  the  Thursday,  after  the 
usual  custom,  or  according  to  the  best  opportunity  of 
the  place." 

The  sports  and  recreations  of  the  boys  are  to  be 
carefully  looked  after.  "  Clownish  sports,  or  perilous, 
or  yet  playing  for  money,  are  no  way  to  be  admitted." 

Of  the  age  at  which  boys  went  to  school  the  same 
writer  says :  "  For  the  time  of  their  entrance  with  us, 


H2  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

in  our  country  schools,  it  is  commonly  about  seven  or 
eight  years  old :  six  is  very  soon.  If  any  begin  so 
early,  they  are  rather  sent  to  the  school  to  keep  them 
from  troubling  the  house  at  home,  and  from  danger, 
and  shrewd  turns,  than  for  any  great  hope  and  desire 
their  friends  have  that  they  should  learn  anything  in 
effect." 

Seven,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  earliest  age  at  which 
boys  could  be  admitted  to  the  Stratford  School. 

SCHOOL    MORALS. 

Schoolboys  in  that  olden  time  appear  to  have  been 
much  like  those  nowadays.  They  sometimes  played 
truant.  Jack  Falstaff,  in  the  First  Part  of  Henry  IV. 
(ii.  4.  450)  asks:  "Shall  the  blessed  sun  of  heaven 
prove  a  micher  and  eat  blackberries  ?"  Micher,  meach- 
er,  or  moocher  is  now  obsolete,  though  the  practice  it 
suggests  is  not ;  but  a  contemporary  dictionary  of  Pro- 
vincial Words  and  Phrases  gives  this  definition  of  the 
word:  "Moocher — a  truant;  a  blackberry  moucher. 
A  boy  who  plays  truant  to  pick  blackberries." 

Idle  pu'pils  in  those  days  often  "  made  shift  to  es- 
cape correction  "  by  methods  not  unlike  those  known 
in  our  modern  schools.  Boys  who  had  faithfully  pre- 
pared their  lessons  would  "  prompt "  others  who  had 
been  less  diligent. 

One  of  these  fellows,  named  Willis,  born  in  the  same 
year  with  Shakespeare,  has  recorded  his  youthful  ex- 
perience at  school  in  a  diary  written  later  in  life  which 
is  still  extant.  He  tells  how,  after  being  often  helped 
in  this  fashion,  "  it  fell  out  on  a  day  that  one  of  the 
eldest  scholars  and  one  of  the  highest  form  fell  out 


WALK   ON   THE   BANKS   OF   THE  AVON 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  113 

with  "  him  "  upon  occasion  of  some  boys'  play  abroad," 
and  refused  to  "prompt"  him  as  aforetime.  He  feared 
that  he  might  "  fall  under  the  rod,"  but,  gathering  his 
wits  together,  managed  to  recite  his  lesson  creditably ; 
and  "so"  he  says,  "the  evil  intended  to  me  by  my 
fellow-scholar  turned  to  my  great  good." 

How  William  liked  going  to  school  we  do  not  know, 
but  if  we  are  to  judge  from  his  references  to  school- 
boys and  schooldays  he  had  little  taste  for  it.  In  As 
You  Like  It  (ii.  7.  145)  we  have  the  familiar  picture  of 


.  .  .  "the  whining  schoolboy,  with  his  satchel 
And  shining  morning  face,  creeping  like  snail 
Unwillingly  to  school ;" 

and  in  Romeo  and  Juliet  (ii.   i.   156)  the  significant 
similes : — 

"  Love  goes  toward  love  as  schoolboys  from  their  books, 
But  love  from  love,  toward  school  with  heavy  looks." 


Gremio,  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (iii.  2.  149), 
when  asked  if  he  has  come  from  the  church,  replies : 
"  As  willingly  as  e'er  I  came  from  school." 

^ 

SCHOOL   DISCIPLINE. 

Sooth  to  say,  the  schoolmasters  of  that  time  were 
not  likely  to  be  remembered  with  much  favor  by  their 
pupils  in  after  years.  There  is  abundant  testimony  to 
the  severity  of  their  discipline  in  Ascham,  Peacham, 
and  other  writers  of  the  i6th  century. 


ii4  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

Thomas  Tusser  tells  of  his  youthful  experiences  at 
Eton  in  verses  that  have  been  often  quoted : 

"  From  Paul's  I  went,  to  Eton  sent, 
To  learn  straightways  the  Latin  phrase, 
When  fifty-three  stripes  given  to  me 

At  once  I  had : 

For  fault  but  small  or  none  at  all 
It  came  to  pass,  thus  beat  I  was. 
See,  Udall,  see  the  mercy  of  thee 
To  me,  poor  lad  !" 

Nicholas  Udall  was  the  master  of  Eton  at  the  time. 

Peacham  tells  of  one  pedagogue  who  used  to  whip 
his  boys  of  a  cold  morning  "for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  get  himself  a  heat."  No  doubt  it  warmed 
the  boys  too,  but  it  is  not  recorded  that  they  liked 
the  method. 

Some  of  the  grammars  of  the  period  have  on  the 
title-page  the  significant  woodcut  of  "an  awful  man 
sitting  on  a  high  chair,  pointing  to  a  book  with  his 
right  hand,  but  with  a  mighty  rod  in  his  left."  Lilly's 
Grammar,  on  the  other  hand,  has  the  picture  of  a  huge 
fruit-tree,  with  little  boys  in  its  branches  picking  the 
abundant  fruit.  I  hope  the  urchins  did  not  find  this 
more  suggestive  of  stealing  apples  than  of  gathering 
the  rich  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge. 

Mr.  Sidney  Lee  remarks :  "  A  repulsive  picture  of 
the  terrors  which  the  schoolhouse  had  for  a  nervous 
child  is  drawn  in  a  'pretie  and  merry  new  interlude' 
entitled  '  The  Disobedient  Child,  compiled  by  Thomas 
Ingeland,  late  student  in  Cambridge,'  about  1560.  A 
boy  who  implores  his  father  not  to  force  him  to  go  to 
school  tells  of  his  companions'  sufferings  there — how 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  115 

" '  Their  tender  bodies  both  night  and  day 

Are  whipped  and  scourged,  and  beat  like  a  stone, 
That  from  top  to  toe  the  skin  is  away ;'         « 


and  a  story  is  repeated  of  how  a  scholar  was  tormented 
to  death  by  '  his  bloody  master.'  Other  accounts  show 
that  the  playwright  has  not  gone  far  beyond  the  fact." 

We  will  try  to  believe,  however,  that  Master  Hunt 
of  Stratford  was  of  a  milder  disposition.  Holofernes 
seems  well  disposed  towards  his  pupils,  and  is  invited 
to  dine  with  the  father  of  one  of  them ;  and  Sir  Hugh 
Evans,  in  his  examination  of  William  Page,  has  a  very 
kindly  manner.  It  is  to  be  noted,  indeed,  that  in  few 
of  Shakespeare's  references  to  school  life  is  there  any 
mention  of  whipping  as  a  punishment. 

Roger  Ascham,  in  his  Schokmaster,  advocated  gentler 
discipline  than  was  usual  in  the  schools  of  his  day. 
His  book,  indeed,  owed  its  origin  to  his  interest  in  this 
matter. 

In  1563,  Ascham,  who  was  then  Latin  Secretary  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  was  dining  with  Sir  William  Cecil 
(afterwards  Lord  Burleigh),  when  the  conversation 
turned  to  the  subject  of  education,  from  news  of  the 
running  away  of  some  boys  from  Eton,  where  there  was 
much  beating.  Ascham  argued  that  young  children 
were  sooner  allured  by  love  than  driven  by  beating  to 
obtain  good  learning.  Sir  Richard  Sackville,  father  of 
Thomas  Sackville,  said  nothing  at  the  dinner-table,  but 
he  afterwards  drew  Ascham  aside,  agreed  with  his 
opinions,  lamented  his  own  past  loss  by  a  harsh  school- 
master, and  said,  Ascham  tells  us  in  the  preface  to  his 
book  :.  "  *  Seeing  it  is  but  in  vain  to  lament  things  past, 
and  also  wisdom  to  look  to  things  to  come,  surely,  God 


n6  SHAKE SPEARE    THE  BOY 

willing,  if  God  lend  me  life,  I  will  make  this  my  mishap 
some  occasion  of  good  hap  to  little  Robert  Sackville, 
my  son's  son.  For  whose  bringing  up  I  would  gladly,  if 
it  so  please  you,  use  specially  your  good  advice.  I  hear 
say  you  have  a  son  much  of  his  age  [Ascham  had  three 
little  sons] ;  we  will  deal  thus  together.  Point  you  out 
a  schoolmaster  who  by  your  order  shall  teach  my  son's 
son  and  yours,  and  for  all  the  rest  I  will  provide,  yea, 
though  they  three  do  cost  me  a  couple  of  hundred 
pounds  by  year ;  and  besides  you  shall  find  me  as  fast 
a  friend  to  you  and  yours  as  perchance  any  you  have.' 
Which  promise  the  worthy  gentleman  surely  kept  with 
me  until  his  dying  day."  The  conversation  ended  with 
a  request  that  Ascham  would  "put  in  some  order  of 
writing  the  chief  points  of  this  our  talk,  concerning  the 
right  order  of  teaching  and  honesty  of  living,  for  the 
good  bringing  up  of  children  and  young  men." 

Ascham  accordingly  wrote  The  Scholemaster,  which 
was  published  in  1570  (two  years  after  his  death)  by 
his  widow,  with  a  dedication  to  Sir  William  Cecil. 

In  the  very  first  page  of  the  book,  Ascham,  referring 
to  training  in  "  the  making  of  Latins,"  or  writing  the 
language,  says  :  "  For  the  scholar  is  commonly  beat  for 
the  making,  when  the  master  were  more  worthy  to  be 
beat  for  the  mending  or  rather  marring  of  the  same ; 
the  master  many  times  being  as  ignorant  as  the  child 
what  to  say  properly  and  fitly  to  the  matter." 

Again  he  says :  "  I  do  gladly  agree  with  all  good 
schoolmasters  in  these  points:  to  have  children  brought 
to  good  perfectness  in  learning ;  to  all  honesty  in  man- 
ners ;  to  have  all  faults  rightly  amended ;  to  have  every 
vice  severely  corrected  ;  but  for  the  order  and  way  that 
leadeth  rightly  to  these  points  we  somewhat  differ. 


SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY  117 

For  commonly,  many  schoolmasters  —  some,  as  I  have 
seen,  more,  as  I  have  heard  tell— be  of  so  crooked  a 
nature,  as,  when  they  meet  with  a  hard-witted  scholar, 
they  rather  break  him  than  bow  him,  rather  mar  him 
than  mend  him.  For  when  the  schoolmaster  is  angry 
with  some  other  matter,  then  will  he  soonest  fall  to 
beat  his  scholar;  and  though  he  himself  should  be 
punished  for  his  folly,  yet  must  he  beat  some  scholar 
for  his  pleasure,  though  there  be  no  cause  for  him 
to  do  so,  nor  yet  fault  in  the  scholar  to  deserve  so. 
These,  you  will  say,  be  fond  [that  is,  foolish]  school- 
masters, and  few  they  be  that  be  found  to  be  such. 
They  be  fond,  indeed,  but  surely  over  many  such  be 
found  everywhere.  But  this  will  I  say,  that  even  the 
wisest  of  your  great  beaters  do  as  oft  punish  nature  as 
they  do  correct  faults.  Yea,  many  times  the  better 
nature  is  sorely  punished ;  for,  if  one,  by  quickness  of 
wit,  take  his  lesson  readily,  another,  by  hardness  of  wit, 
taketh  it  not  so  speedily,  the  first  is  always  commended, 
the  other  is  commonly  punished ;  when  a  wise  school- 
master should  rather  discreetly  consider  the  right  dis- 
position of  both  their  natures,  and  not  so  much  weigh 
what  either  of  them  is  able  to  do  now,  as  what 
either  of  them  is  likely  to  do  hereafter.  For  this  I 
know,  not  only  by  reading  of  books  in  my  study,  but 
also  by  experience  of  life  abroad  in  the  world,  that 
those  which  be  commonly  the  wisest,  the  best  learned, 
and  best  men  also,  when  they  be  old,  were  never  com- 
monly the  quickest  of  wit  when  they  were  young." 

The  result  of  ordinary  school  training,  with  the  free 
use  of  the  rod,  as  Ascham  says,  is  that  boys  "carry 
commonly  from  the  school  with  them  a  perpetual 
hatred  of  their  master  and  a  continual  contempt  for 


n8  SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY 

learning."  He  adds  :  "  If  ten  gentlemen  be  asked  why 
they  forget  so  soon  in  court  that  which  they  were  learn- 
ing so  long  in  school,  eight  of  them,  or  let  me  be 
blamed,  will  lay  the  fault  on  their  ill  handling  by  their 
schoolmasters."  The  sum  of  the  matter  is  that  "learn- 
ing should  be  taught  rather  by  love  than  fear," 
and  "the  schoolhouse  should  be  counted  a  sanctuary 
against  fear. 

But  Ascham,  like  Mulcaster  and  Brinsley,  was  far  in 
advance  of  his  age,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  his  wise 
counsel  with  regard  to  methods  of  discipline  met  with 
any  greater  favor  among  teachers  than  theirs  concern- 
ing the  importance  of  the  study  of  English. 

WHEN    WILLIAM    LEFT  SCHOOL. 

How  long  William  remained  in  the  Grammar  School 
we  do  not  know,  but  probably  not  more  than  six  years, 
or  until  he  was  thirteen.  In  1577  his  father  was  begin- 
ning to  have  bad  luck  in  his  business,  and  the  boy 
very  likely  had  to  be  taken  from  school  for  work  of 
some  sort. 

As  Ben  Jonson  says,  Shakespeare  had  "  small  Latin 
and  less  Greek" — perhaps  none — and  this  was  prob- 
ably due  to  his  leaving  the  Grammar  School  before 
the  average  age.  However  that  may  have  been,  we 
may  be  pretty  sure  that  all  the  regular  schooling  he 
ever  had  was  got  there. 


PART  IV 
GAMES  AND   SPORTS 


BOYISH   GAMES 

YOUNG  William  may  have  found  life  at  the  Henley 
Street  house  and  at  the  Grammar  School  rather  dull, 
but  there  was  no  lack  of  diversion  and  recreation  out 
of  doors.  Household  comforts  and  attractions  were 
meagre  enough  in  those  days,  but  holidays  were  fre- 
quent, and  rural  sports  and  pastimes  for  young  and  old 
were  many  and  varied.  We  may  be  sure  that  Shake- 
speare enjoyed  these  to  the  full.  His  writings  abound 
in  allusions  to  them  which  were  doubtless  reminis- 
cences of  his  own  boyhood. 

Many  of  the  children's  games  to  which  he  refers  are 


122  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

familiar  to  small  folk  now,  especially  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts. Hide-and-seek,  for  example — also  known  as 
"  hoop-and-hide  "  and  "  harry-racket " — is  probably  the 
play  that  Hamlet  had  in  mind  when  he  exclaimed 
(iv.  2.  33),  "  Hide,  fox,  and  after."  Blind-man's-buff  is 
also  alluded  to  by  Hamlet  when,  chiding  his  mother 
for  preferring  his  uncle  to  his  father,  he  asks : 

"  What  devil  was  't 
That  thus  hath  cozen'd  you  at  hoodman-blind." 

A  dictionary  of  Shakespeare's  time  couples  this 
name  for  the  pastime  with  the  one  that  has  survived : 
"The  Hoodwinke  play,  or  hoodmanblinde,  in  some 
places  called  the  blindmanbuf."  Hamlet's  question  is 
evidently  suggested  by  the  practice  of  making  the 
"blind  man"  guess  whom  he  has  caught  —  as  Greek 
and  Roman  boys  did  when  they  played  the  game. 

In  the  grave-digging  scene  (v.  i.  100)  Hamlet  asks: 
"  Did  these  bones  cost  no  more  the  breeding  but  to 
play  at  loggats  with  them  ?"  This  refers  to  the  throw- 
ing of  loggats  or  loggets — small  logs,  or  sticks  of  wood 
much  like  "Indian  clubs"  —  at  a  stake,  the  player 
coming  nearest  to  it  being  the  winner. 

In  a  poem  of  1611  we  find  loggats  in  a  list  of  games 
with  sundry  others  that  are  still  in  vogue  : — 

"To  wrastle,  play  at  stooleball,  or  to  runne, 
To  pich  the  Barre,  or  to  shoote  off  a  Gunne, 
To  play  at  Loggets,  Nine-holes,  or  Ten-pinnes ; 
To  try  it  out.  at  Foot-ball  by  the  shinnes." 

Stool-ball,  commonly  played  by  girls  and  women, 
sometimes  in  company  with  boys  or  men,  is  to  this 


HIDB-AND-SBEK 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  123 

day  a  village  pastime  in  some  parts  of  England.  It  is 
essentially  a  lighter  kind  of  cricket,  but  is  more  ancient 
than  that  game. 

Pitching  the  bar  was  an  athletic  exercise  still  com- 
mon in  Scotland.  Scott  alludes  to  it  in  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake,  iv.  559  : — 

"  Now,  if  thou  strik'st  her  but  one  blow, 
I'll  pitch  thee  from  the  cliff  as  far 
As  ever  peasant  pitch'd  a  bar!" 

And  again,  in  the  account  of  the  sports  at  Stirling 
Castle,  v.  647  : — 

"Their  arms  the  brawny  yeomen  bare 
To  hurl  the  massive  bar  in  air." 

A  poet  of  the  i6th  century  tells  us  that  to  throw 
"  the  stone,  the  bar,  or  the  plummet "  is  a  commendable 
exercise  for  kings  and  princes ;  and,  according  to  the 
old  chroniclers,  it  was  a  favorite  diversion  with  Henry 
VIII.  after  his  accession  to  the  throne. 

Nine-holes,  a  game  in  which  nine  holes  were  made  in 
a  board  or  in  the  ground  at  which  small  balls  were 
rolled,  is  among  the  rustic  sports  enumerated  by 
Dray  ton  in  the  Poly-Olbion. 

There  were  many  ball-games  besides  stool-ball  in  the 
days  of  Elizabeth,  from  the  simple  hand-ball,  which 
Homer  represents  the  princess  of  Corcyra  as  playing 
with  her  maidens,  to  more  complicated  exercises,  among 
which  we  can  recognize  the  germ  of  the  later  "  round- 
ers," out  of  which  our  Yankee  base-ball  has  been  de- 
veloped. 


124  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

The  term  base,  as  denoting  a  starting-point  or  goal, 
occurs  in  the  name  of  other  than  ball-games,  especially 
in  "prisoners'  base"  —  sometimes  "prisoners1  bars," 
or  "  prison-bars  "  —  which  was  popular  long  before 
Shakespeare  was  born.  It  is  played  by  two  sides,  who 
occupy  opposite  bases,  or  "  homes."  Any  player  run- 
ning out  from  his  base  is  chased  by  the  opposite  party, 
and  if  caught  is  made  a  prisoner.  It  belongs  to  a  class 
of  old  games,  one  of  the  most  popular  of  which  was 
called  "  barley-break." 

Originally,  this  was  played  by  three  couples,  male  and 
female ;  one  couple  was  stationed  in  "  hell  "  or  the  space 
between  the  two  goals,  and  tried  to  catch  the  others 
as  they  ran  across.  It  is  thus  described  by  Sir  Philip 
Sidney  in  the  Arcadia  : — 

"Then  couples  three  be  straight  allotted  there; 

They  of  both  ends  the  middle  two  do  fly; 
The  two  that  in  mid-space,  Hell  called,  were 

Must  strive,  with  waiting  foot  and  watching  eye, 
To  catch  of  them,  and  them  to  Hell  to  bear, 

That  they,  as  well  as  they,  may  Hell  supply." 

Later  it  came  to  be  played  by  any  number  of  young 
people,  of  either  sex  or  both,  with  one  person  in  "  hell  " 
at  the  start.  The  game  was  kept  up  until  all  had  been 
captured  and  brought  into  this  Inferno.  In  this  form, 
under  the  name  of  "  Lill-lill " — which  was  the  signal 
cry  of  the  person  between  the  goals  for  beginning  the 
sport  —  it  was  played  by  schoolboys  in  eastern  Mas- 
sachusetts fifty  years  ago. 

Barley-break  is  often  alluded  to  by  the  dramatists  and 
lyrists  of  Shakespeare's  day,  and  complete  poems  were 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  125 

written  upon  it  by  Suckling,  Herrick,  and  others. 
Shakespeare  does  not  mention  it,  though  he  has  sev- 
eral references  to  prisoners'  base ;  as  in  Cymbeline 
(v.  3.  20)  :— 

"  lads  more  like  to  run 
The  country  base  than  to  commit  such  slaughter." 

To  "bid  a  base,"  or  "the  base,"  was  a  common 
phrase  for  challenging  to  a  game  of  this  kind,  and  we 
often  find  it  used  figuratively;  as  in  Venus  and  Adonis, 
303,  in  the  spirited  description  of  the  horse,  which, 
like  many  other  passages,  shows  Shakespeare's  inter- 
est in  the  animal : — 

"Sometimes  he  scuds  far  off,  and  there  he  stares; 

Anon  he  starts  at  stirring  of  a  feather; 
To  bid  the  wind  a  base  he  now  prepares, 

And  whether  he  run  or  fly  they  know  not  whether, 
For  through  his  mane  and  tail  the  high  wind  sings, 
Fanning  the  hairs,  who  wave  like  feather'd  wings." 

In  the  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  (i.  2.  97),  Lucetta 
says  to  Julia,  with  a  pun  upon  the  phrase :  "  Indeed,  I 
bid  the  base  for  Proteus." 

Dray  ton,  in  the  Poly-Olbion,  includes  this  game  with 
others  that  have  been  described  above  :  "  At  hood-wink, 
barley-brake,  at  tick  [that  is,  tag],  or  prison-base  ";  and 
Spenser  in  the  Shepherd"1*  Calendar  (October)  refers  to 
it  among  rustic  pastimes :  "  In  rymes,  in  ridles,  and  in 
bydding  base." 

Foot-ball  is  mentioned  by  Shakespeare  in  the  Comedy 
of  Errors  (ii.  i.  82),  where  Dromio  of  Ephesus  says  to 
his  mistress  Adriana,  who  has  been  chiding  him  : — 


126  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

"Am  I  so  round  with  you  as  you  with  me, 
That  like  a  foot-ball  you  do  spurn  me  thus  ? 
You  spurn  me  hence,  and  he  will  spurn  me  hither; 
If  I  last  in  this  service,  you  must  case  me  in  leather." 

In  Lear  (i.  4.  95),  Oswald  says  to  Kent,  "  I'll  not  be 
struck,  my  lord !"  and  Kent  replies,  "  Nor  tripped  neither, 
you  base  foot-ball  player." 

The  game  was  popular  with  the  common  people  of 
England  at  least  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Edward  III., 
for  in  1349  it  was  prohibited  by  royal  edict — not,  appar- 
ently, from  any  particular  objection  to  the  game  in  it- 
self, but  because  it  was  believed  to  interfere  with  the 
popular  interest  in  archery. 

The  sport  was,  however,  a  rough  one  then  as  now. 
Alexander  Barclay,  who  died  in  1552,  in  one  of  his 
Eclogues,  tells  how 

"The  sturdie  plowman,  lustie,  strong,  and  bold, 
Overcometh  the  winter  with  driving  the  foote-ball, 
Forgetting  labour  and  many  a  grievous  fall." 

Edmund  Waller,  in  the  next  century,  writes: — 

"As  when  a  sort  [company]  of  lusty  shepherds  try 
Their  force  at  foot-ball ;  care  of  victory 
Makes  them  salute  so  rudely  breast  to  breast, 
That  their  encounter  seems  too  rough  for  jest." 

King  James  I.,  in  his  Basilicon — a  set  of  rules  for  the 
nurture  and  conduct  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  the 
heir-apparent  to  the  throne — says  : — 

"  Certainly  bodily  exercises  and  games  are  very  com- 
mendable, as  well  for  banishing  of  idleness,  the  mother 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  127 

of  all  vice,  as  for  making  the  body  able  and  durable  for 
travell,  which  is  very  necessarie  for  a  king.  But  from 
this  court  I  debarre  all  rough  and  violent  exercises ;  as 
the  foote-ball,  meeter  for  lameing  than  making  able  the 
users  thereof;  likewise  such  tumbling  tricks  as  only 
serve  for  comedians  and  balladines  [theatrical  dancers] 
to  win  their  bread  with  ;  but  the  exercises  that  I  would 
have  you  to  use,  although  but  moderately,  not  making 
a  craft  of  them,  are,  running,  leaping,  wrestling,  fencing, 
dancing,  and  playing  at  the  caitch,  or  tenise,  archery, 
palle-malle,  and  such  like  other  fair  and  pleasant  field- 
games." 

Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  published  in 
1660,  mentions  foot-ball  among  the  "common  recrea- 
tions of  country  folks,"  as  distinguished  from  the  "  dis- 
ports of  greater  men,"  or  those  higher  in  rank. 

In  Romeo  and  Juliet  (i.  4.  41)  Mercutio  says  to  Romeo, 
"  If  thou  art  Dun,  we'll  draw  thee  from  the  mire  " — that 
is,  of  love.  This  is  an  allusion  to  a  rural  game  which 
seems  to  have  been  a  favorite  for  several  centuries,  and 
to  which  scores  of  references,  literal  and  figurative,  are 
to  be  found  in  writers- of  all  classes. 

In  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales  (16936)  we  read  : — 

"  Ther  gan  our  hoste  for  to  jape  and  play, 
And  sayde,  'sires,  what?    Dun  is  in  the  myre;'" 

Bishop  Butler,  more  than  three  hundred  years  later, 
writes :  "  they  mean  to  leave  reformation,  like  Dun  in 
the  mire." 

Gifford,  in  his  notes  on  Ben  Jonson's  Masque  of 
Christmas,  tells  us  (in  1816)  that  he  himself  had  "often 
played  at  this  game."  He  describes  it  substantially  as 


128  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

follows :  A  log  of  wood  called  "  Dun  the  cart-horse  " 
is  brought  into  the  middle  of  the  room,  and  some  one 
cries,  "Dun  is  stuck  in  the  mire."  Two  of  the  players 
try,  with  or  without  ropes,  to  drag  it  out,  but,  pretend- 
ing to  be  unable  to  do  so,  call  for  help.  Others  come 
forward,  and  make  awkward  attempts  to  draw  out  the 
log,  which  they  manage,  if  possible,  to  drop  upon  a 
companion's  toes,  causing  "much  honest  mirth." 

It  is  remarkable  that  so  simple  a  diversion  could  have 
been  popular  with  generation  after  generation  of  British 
young  folk,  and  that  they  should  apparently  recall  it 
with  so  much  interest  in  later  years.  Verily,  our  fore- 
fathers in  the  old  country  were  easily  amused. 

In  Antony  and  Cleopatra  (iii.  13.  91)  we  find  an  allu- 
sion to  another  game  equally  simple — if,  indeed,  it  be 
not  too  simple  to  be  called  a  game.  Antony  says  : — 

"  Authority  melts  from  me ;  of  late,  when  I  cried  '  Ho !' 
Like  boys  unto  a  muss,  kings  would  start  forth 
And  cry  'Your  will?'" 

A  "  muss  "  was  merely  a  scramble  for  small  coins  or 
other  things  thrown  down  to  be  taken  by  those  who 
could  seize  them.  Ben  Jonson,  in  The  Magnetic  Lady 
(iv.  i),  says:— 

"  The  moneys  rattle  not,  nor  are  they  thrown 
To  make  a  muss   yet  'mong  the  gamesome  suitors  "  ; 

In  the  same  author's  Bartholomew  Fair  (iv.  i),  when 
the  costard -monger's  basket  of  pears  is  overturned, 
Cokes  begins  to  scramble  for  them,  crying,  "  Ods  so  !  a 
muss,  a  muss,  a  muss,  a  muss  !" 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  129 

Dryden,  in  the  prologue  to  Widow  Ranter,  says : — 

"  Bauble  and  cap  no  sooner  are  thrown  down 
But  there's  a  muss  of  more  than  half  the  town." 

This  is  the  origin  of  the  modern  colloquial  or  slang 
use  of  muss. 

"Handy-dandy"  was  a  childish  play  in  which  some- 
thing was  shaken  between  the  two  hands,  and  a  guess 
made  as  to  the  hand  in  which  it  remained.  It  is  alluded 
to  in  Lear  (iv.  6.  157)  :  "  See  how  yond  justice  rails 
upon  yond  simple  thief.  Hark,  in  thine  ear:  change 
places;  and,  handy-dandy,  which  is  the  justice,  which 
is  the  thief  ?"  The  game  is  very  ancient,  being  men- 
tioned by  Aristotle,  Plato,  and  other  Greek  writers. 

In  the  Midsummer  -  Night"  s  Dream  (ii.  2.  98)  Tita- 
nia,  lamenting  the  results  of  the  quarrel  with  Oberon, 
says  : — 

"The  nine  men's  morris  is  fill'd  up  with  mud, 
And  the  quaint  mazes  in  the  wanton  green 
For  lack  of  tread  are  undistinguishable." 

The  "  nine  men's  morris  "  was  a  Warwickshire  game 
which  is  still  kept  up  among  the  rural  population  of  the 
county.  It  is  played  on  three  squares,  one  within  an- 
other, with  lines  uniting  the  angles  and  the  middle  of 
the  sides ;  the  opponents  having  each  nine  "  men,"  which 
are  moved  somewhat  as  in  draughts,  or  checkers. 

In  the  country  the  squares  were  often  cut  in  the  green 

turf,  the  sides  of  the  outer  one  being  sometimes  three 

or  four  yards  long.     In  towns,  they  were  chalked  upon 

the  pavement.    It  was  also  played  indoors  upon  a  board. 

9 


130 


SHAKESPEARE   THE   BOY 


"MORRIS"  BOARD 


A  woodcut  of  1520  represents  two  monkeys  engaged 
at  it.     It  was  sometimes  called  "nine  men's  merrils," 
from    merelles,    the    old    French 
name  for  the  "  men,"  or  count- 
ers, with  which  it  was  played. 

The  "  quaint  mazes*"  in  Tita- 
nia's  speech,  according  to  the 
best  English  critics,  refer  to  a 
game  known  as  "running  the 
figure  of  eight." 

Space  would  fail  to  describe 
other  boyish  games  of  the  time, 
even  those  mentioned  in  the 

writings  of  Shakespeare  ;  and  I  need  not  say  anything 
of  leap-frog,  trundling-hoop,  battledore  and  shuttle- 
cock, seesaw  —  sometimes  called  "riding  the  wild 
mare "  —  tops,  and  many  other  pastimes  in  perennial 
favor  with  boys. 

Mulcaster,  the  head -master  of  Merchant- Taylors 
School  in  London  (see  page  106  above),  in  a  book  print- 
ed in  1581,  enumerates  as  suitable  exercises  for  boys: 
"indoors,  dancing,  wrestling,  fencing,  the  top  and 
scourge  [whip -top];  outdoor,  walking,  running,  leap- 
ing, swimming,  riding,  hunting,  shooting,  and  playing 
at  the  ball  —  hand-ball,  tennis,  foot-ball,  arm-ball." 
William  doubtless  had  experience  in  most  of  these, 
swimming  in  the  Avon  among  them. 


SWIMMING   AND    FISHING. 


The  spirited  description  of  Ferdinand  swimming 
(The  Tempest,  ii.  i.  113-121)  could  have  been  written 
only  by  one  well  skilled  in  the  art : — 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  131 

"  I  saw  him  beat  the  surges  under  him, 
And  ride  upon  their  backs;   he  trod  the  water, 
Whose  enmity  he  flung  aside,  and  breasted 
The  surge  most  swoln  that  met  him ;   his  bold  head 
'Bove  the  contentious  waves  he  kept,  and  oar'd 
Himself  with  his  good  arms  in  lusty  stroke 
To  the  shore,  that  o'er  his  wave-worn  basis  bow'd, 
As  stooping  to  relieve  him.     I  not  doubt 
He  came  alive  to  land." 

There  are  many  other  allusions  to  swimming  in  the 
plays  which  indicate  the  writer's  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  exercise  ;  as  in  Macbeth,  i.  2.  8 : — 

"  As  two  spent  swimmers  that  do  cling  together 
And  choke  their  art." 

The  swimming  match  between  Caesar  and  Cassius 
(Julius  Cczsar,  i.  2.  100)  is  described  with  sympathetic 
vigor.  Cassius  says  to  Brutus  : — 

"  We  can  both 

Endure  the  winter's  cold  as  well  as  he. 
For  once,  upon  a  raw  and  gusty  day, 
The  troubled  Tiber  chafing  with  her  shores, 
Csesar  said  to  me,  '  Dar'st  thou,  Cassius,  now 
Leap  in  with  me  into  this  angry  flood, 
And  swim  to  yonder  point?'     Upon  the  word, 
Accoutred  as  I  was,  I  plunged  in, 
And  bade  him  follow;  so,  indeed,  he  did. 
The  torrent  roar'd,  and  we  did  buffet  it 
With  lusty  sinews,  throwing  it  aside 
And  stemming  it  with  hearts  of  controversy. 
But  ere  we  could  arrive  the  point  propos'd, 
Caesar  cried,  '  Help  me,  Cassius,  or  I  sink !' 
I,  as  y£neas,  our  great  ancestor, 


132  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

Did  from  the  flames  of  Troy  upon  his  shoulder 
The  old  Anchises  bear,  so  from  the  waves  of  Tiber 
Did  I  the  tired  Caesar." 


Of  course  William  often  went  a-fishing  in  the  Avon, 
and  understood,  as  Ursula  says  in  Much  Ado  About 
Nothing  (iii.  i.  26),  that 

"  The  pleasant'st  angling  is  to  see  the  fish 
Cut  with  her  golden  oars  the  silver  stream, 
And  greedily  devour  the  treacherous  bait." 


BEAR-BAITING. 

The  boy  must  often  have  seen  a  bear-baiting,  for  the 
cruel  sport  was  popular  with  all  classes,  from  sovereign 
to  peasant.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  fond  of  it,  as  was 
her  sister  Mary  ;  and  it  was  one  of  the  "  princely  pleas- 
ures "  provided  for  the  entertainment  of  the  former  at 
Kenilworth  in  1575,  when  thirteen  great  bears  were 
worried  by  bandogs. 

On  another  occasion,  when  Elizabeth  gave  a  splen- 
did dinner  to  the  French  ambassadors,  she  entertained 
them  afterwards  with  the  baiting  of  bulls  and  bears  ; 
and  she  herself  watched  the  sport  till  six  at  night. 
The  next  day  the  ambassadors  went  to  see  another 
exhibition  of  the  same  kind.  A  Danish  ambassador, 
some  years  later,  was  entertained  by  the  Queen  at 
Greenwich  with  a  bear-baiting  and  "other  merry  dis- 
ports," as  the  chronicle  expresses  it. 

Elizabeth  was  a  lover  of  the  drama,  but  was  unwill- 
ing that  it  should  interfere  with  these  brute  tragedies. 
In  1591,  a  royal  edict  forbade  plays  to  be  acted  on 


FISHING    IN    THE   AVON 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 


133 


Thursdays,  because  bear-baiting  and  similar  sports  had 
usually  been  practised  on  that  day.  This  order  was 
followed  by  one  to  the  same  effect  from  the  lord  mayor, 
who  complained  that  "in  divers  places  the  players 
do  use  to  recite  their  plays  to  the  great  hurt  and 


THE  BEAR  GARDEN,  LONDON 


destruction  of  the  game  of  bear  baiting  and  such 
like  pastimes,  which  are  maintained  for  her  majesty's 
pleasure." 

The  clergy  were  as  fond  of  these  amusements  as 


134  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

their  parishioners  appear  to  have  been.  Thomas  Cart- 
wright,  in  a  book  published  in  1572,  says:  "If  there 
be  a  bear  or  a  bull  to  be  baited  in  the  afternoon,  or  a 
jackanapes  to  ride  on  horseback,  the  minister  hurries 
the  service  over  in  a  shameful  manner,  in  order  to  be 
present  at  the  show." 

It  is  on  record  that  at  a  certain  place  in  Chesh- 
ire, "  the  -town  bear  having  died,  the  corporation  in 
1601  gave  orders  to  sell  their  Bible  in  order  to  pur- 
chase another."  At  another  place,  when  a  bear  was 
wanted  for  baiting  at  a  town  festival,  the  church- 
wardens pawned  the  Bible  from  the  sacred  desk  in 
order  to  obtain  the  means  of  enjoying  their  immemo- 
rial sport. 

There  are  many  allusions  to  bear-baiting  in  Shake- 
speare. In  Twelfth  Night  (i.  3.  98)  Sir  Andrew  Ague- 
cheek  says  ,  "  I  would  I  had  bestowed  that  time  in  the 
tongues  [that  is,  the  study  of  languages]  that  I  have  in 
fencing,  dancing,  and  bear-baiting :  O,  had  I  but  fol- 
lowed the  arts!"  In  the  same  play  (ii.  5.  9)  Fabian, 
referring  to  Malvolio,  says  to  Sir  Toby,  "  You  know,  he 
brought  me  out  of  favor  with  my  lady  about  a  bear- 
baiting  here";  and  Fabian  replies,  "To  anger  him 
we'll  have  the  bear  back  again."  There  is  a  figurative 
reference  to  the  sport  in  this  play  (iii.  i.  130)  where 
Olivia  says  to  the  disguised  Viola : — 

"  Have  you  not  set  mine  honour  at  the  stake, 
And  baited  it  with  all  the  unmuzzled  thoughts 
That  tyrannous  heart  can  think?" 

In  2  Henry  VI.  (v.  i.  148)  we  find  a  similar  figure 
where  York  says  to  Clifford  :  — 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  135 

"  Call  hither  to  the  stake  my  two  brave  bears, 
That  with  the  very  shaking  of  their  chains 
They  may  astonish  these  fell-lurking  curs : 
Bid  Salisbury  and  Warwick  come  to  me." 

The  amusing  dialogue  between  Slender  and  Anne 
Page,  in  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (i.  i.  307),' may 
be  added : — 

"  Slender.  Why  do  your  dogs  bark  so  ?  be  there  bears  i' 
the  town  ? 

Anne.  I  think  there  are,  sir,  I  heard  them  talked  of. 

Slender.  I  love  the  sport  well;  but  I  shall  as  soon  quar- 
rel at  it  as  any  man  in  England. — You  are  afraid,  if  you 
see  the  bear  loose,  are  you  not  ? 

Anne.  Ay,  indeed,  sir. 

Slender.  That's  meat  and  drink  to  me,  now:  I  have 
seen  Sackerson  loose  twenty  times,  and  have  taken  him 
by  the  chain  ;  but,  I  warrant  you,  the  women  have  so 
cried  and  shriek'd  at  it,  that  it  passed  [passed  descrip- 
tion] ;  but  women,  indeed,  cannot  abide  'em  ;  they  are 
very  ill-favoured  rough  things." 

Sackerson  was  a  famous  bear  exhibited  at  Paris  Gar- 
den, a  popular  bear-garden  on  the  Bankside  in  Lon- 
don, near  the  Globe  Theatre.  An  old  epigram  refers 
to  the  place  and  the  animal  thus :  — 

"  Publius,  a  student  of  the  common  law, 
To  Paris-garden  doth  himself  withdraw, 
Leaving  old  Ployden,  Dyer,  and  Broke  alone, 
To  see  old  Harry  Hunkes  and  Sacarson ;" 

that  is,  neglecting  Ployden  and  other  writers  on  law 
for  the  sports  at  the  bear-garden. 

For  the  bear  to  get  loose  was  a  serious  matter.     We 


136  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

read  in  a  diary  of  1554  that  at  a  bear-baiting  on  the 
Bankside  "the  great  blind  bear  broke  loose,  and  in 
running  away  he  caught  a  servingman  by  the  calf  of 
the  leg  and  bit  a  great  piece  away,"  so  that  "  within 
three  days  after  he  died." 

James  I.  prohibited  baiting  on  Sundays,  but  did  not 
otherwise  discourage  it.  In  the  time  of  the  Common- 
wealth Paris  Garden  was  shut  up,  the  bear  was  killed, 
and  the  amusement  forbidden  ;  but  with  the  Restora- 
tion it  was  revived,  and  continued  to  be  popular  until 
the  early  part  of  the  next  century.  In  1802  an  attempt 
was  made  in  Parliament  to  suppress  it  altogether,  but 
the  House  of  Commons  by  a  majority  of  thirteen  re- 
fused to  pass  the  bill.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1835 
that  baiting  was  finally  abolished  by  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, forbidding  "the  keeping  of  any  house,  pit,  or 
other  place,  for  baiting  or  fighting  any  bull,  bear, 
dog,  or  other  animal." 

COCK-FIGHTING   AND    COCK-THROWING. 

Cock-fighting  was  another  barbarous  amusement 
that  was  very  early  in  great  favor  in  England.  Fitz- 
stephen,  who  died  in  1191,  records  that  in  London 
"  every  year  at  Shrove  Tuesday  the  schoolboys  do 
bring  cocks  to  their  master,  and  all  the  forenoon  they 
delight  themselves  in  cock-fighting";  and  it  is  not 
until  the  i6th  century  that  we  find  Dean  Colet,  the 
founder  of  St.  Paul's  School,  objecting  to  it  as  an 
amusement  for  the  pupils. 

The  good  lady  who  founded  the  Nottingham  gram- 
mar school  in  1513  was  content  with  restricting  the 
sport  to  "  twice  a  year." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  137 

In  Scotland  cock-fights  were  sanctioned  as  a  school 
recreation  till  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  and  the 
master  received  a  fee,  called  "  cock-penny,"  from  the 
boys  on  the  occasion.  As  late  as  1790,  at  Applecross, 
in  Ross-shire,  "  the  cock-fight  dues  "  were  reckoned  as 
a  part  of  the  schoolmaster's  income. 

Shakespeare  has  only  two  or  three  allusions  to  cock- 
fighting  in  his  works.  Antony  says  of  Octavius  (An- 
tony and  Cleopatra,  ii.  3.  36)  : — 

"  His  cocks  do  win  the  battle  still  of  mine, 
When  it  is  all  to  nought ;  and  his  quails  ever 
Beat  mine,  inhoop'd,  at  odds." 

Dr.  Johnson,  in  a  note  on  the  passage,  says :  "  The 
ancients  used  to  match  quails  as  we  match  cocks." 
The  birds  were  inhooped,  or  confined  within  a  circle,  to 
keep  them  "up  to  the  scratch";  or,  according  to  some 
authorities,  the  one  that  was  driven  out  of  the  hoop 
was  considered  beaten. 

Hamlet,  when  at  the  point  of  death,  exclaims : — 

"  O,  I  die,  Horatio; 
The  potent  poison  quite  o'er-crows  my  spirit !" 

He  means  that  the  poison  triumphs  over  him,  as  a  vic- 
torious cock  over  his  beaten  antagonist. 

In  the  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (ii.  i.  228),  Katharina 
says  to  Petruchio,  "  You  crow  too  like  a  craven." 
This  word  craven,  which  meant  a  base  coward,  was  of- 
ten applied  to  a  vanquished  knight  who  had  not  fought 
bravely,  and  hence  came  to  be  used  with  reference  to  a 
beaten  or  cowardly  cock,  as  it  is  in  this  passage. 

Another    popular    diversion,    especially   among   the 


138  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

boys,  was  "  throwing  at  cocks,"  in  which  the  bird 
was  tied  to  a  stake  and  sticks  thrown  at  it  until  it 
was  killed.  This  sport,  which  dates  back  to  the 
i4th  century,  and  which  was  not  uncommon  in  Eng- 
land less  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  is  said  to  have 
been  peculiar  to  that  country. 

Sir  Thomas  More,  writing  in  the  i6th  century,  tells  of 
his  own  skill  in  his  childhood  in  casting  a  "  cock-stele," 
that  is,  a  stick  or  cudgel  to  throw  at  a  cock.  The 
amusement  was  regularly  practised  on  Shrove  Tuesday. 

In  some  places  the  cock  was  put  into  an  earthen 
vessel  made  for  the  purpose,  with  only  his  head  and 
tail  exposed  to  view.  The  vessel  was  then  suspended 
across  the  street  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  from  the 
ground,  to  be  thrown  at.  The  boy  who  broke  the  pot 
and  freed  the  cock  from  his  confinement  had  him  for 
a  reward. 

According  to  a  popular  superstition  of  Shakespeare's 
day,  the  cock  was  supposed  to  be  a  kind  of  devil's 
messenger,  from  his  crowing  after  Peter's  denial  of  his 
Master.  Clergymen  sometimes  made  this  an  excuse 
for  their  enjoyment  in  cock-throwing. 

Shakespeare  makes  no  reference  to  this  vulgar  prej- 
udice against  the  cock.  On  the  contrary,  in  a  very 
beautiful  passage  in  Hamlet  (i.  i.  158),  he  associates 
the  bird  with  the  joy  and  hope  of  Christmas: — 

"  Some  say  that  ever  'gainst  that  season  comes 
Wherein  our  Saviour's  birth  is  celebrated, 
The  bird  of  dawning  singeth  all  night  long; 
And  then,  they  say,  no  spirit  can  walk  abroad, 
The  nights  are  wholesome,  then  no  planets  strike, 
No  fairy  takes,  nor  witch  hath  power  to  charm, 
So  hallow'd  and  so  gracious  is  the  time." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  139 

OTHER    CRUEL    SPORTS. 

When  the  Chief  Justice  says  to  Falstaff  (2  Henry  IV. 
i.  2.  255),  "Fare  you  well ;  commend  me  to  my  cousin 
Westmoreland,"  the  fat  knight  mutters,  "  If  I  do,  fillip 
me  with  a  three-man  beetle."  The  allusion  is  to  a  cruel 
sport  which  is  said  to  have  been  common  with  War- 
wickshire boys.  A  toad  was  put  on  one  end  of  a  short 
board  placed  across  a  small  log,  and  the  other  end  was 
then  struck  with  a  bat,  thus  throwing  the  creature  high 
in  the  air.  This  was  £&\£&  filliping  the  toad.  A  three- 
man  beetle  was  a  heavy  rammer  with  three  handles  used 
in  driving  piles,  requiring  three  men  to  wield  it.  Such 
a  beetle  would  evidently  be  needed  for  filliping  a 
weight  like  FalstafFs.  < 

Falstaff  alludes  to  another  piece  of  boyish  cruelty  to 
animals  in  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (v.  i.  26)  when 
he  says,  after  the  cudgelling  he  has  received  from  Ford, 
"Since  I  plucked  geese,  played  truant,  and  whipped 
top,  I  knew  not  what  'twas  to  be  beaten  till  lately." 
The  young  barbarians  of  Shakespeare's  time  thought  it 
fine  sport  to  pull  the  feathers  from  a  live  goose.  If 
they  sometimes  got  whipped  for  it,  we  mny  suppose 
that  it  was  solely  for  the  mischief  done  to  private  prop- 
erty. When  their  elders  were  fond  of  bear-baiting, 
cock-fighting,  and  other  brutal  amusements,  the  boys 
would  hardly  be  punished  for  torturing  a  domestic 
animal  unless  its  value  was  lessened  by  the  ill-treat- 
ment. 

Whether  Shakespeare  in  his  boyhood  was  guilty  of 
thoughtless  cruelty  like  this,  as  boys  are  apt  to  be  even 
nowadays,  we  cannot  say ;  but  later  in  life  he  recog- 
nized its  wantonness,  and  more  than  once  reproved 


140  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

the  brutality  of  children  of  larger  growth  in  their  sports 
and  amusements. 

In  Lear  (iv.  i.  38)  Gloster  says  bitterly : — 

"  As  flies  to  wanton  boys  are  we  to  the  gods, 
They  kill  us  for  their  sport." 

In  the  same  play  (iv.  7.  36)  Cordelia,  referring  to  the 
unnatural  conduct  of  Goneril  in  turning  her  old  father 
out  of  doors  in  the  storm,  exclaims  :  — 

"  Mine  enemy's  dog, 

Though  he  had  bit  me,  should  have  stood  that  night 
Against  my  fire  !" 

The  poet  did  not  forget  that  even  an  insect  may 
suffer  pain.  In  Measure  for  Measure  (iii.  i.  79)  Isabella 
says  to  her  brother  : — 

"  Barest  thou  die  ? 

The  sense  of  death  is  most  in  apprehension  ; 
And  the  poor  beetle,  that  we  tread  upon, 
In  corporal  sufferance  finds  a  pang  as  great 
As  when  a  giant  dies." 

In  As  You  Like  It  (ii  i.  21)  the  banished  Duke  in 
the  Forest  of  Arden  laments  the  necessity  of  killing 
deer  for  food  : — 

"  Duke  S.  Come,  shall  we  go  and  kill  us  venison  ? 
And  yet  it  irks  me,  the  poor  dappled  fools, 
Being  native  burghers  of  this  desert  city, 
Should  in  their  own  confines  with  forked  heads 
Have  their  round  haunches  gor'd. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  141 

i  Lord.  Indeed,  my  lord, 

The  melancholy  Jaques  grieves  at  that, 
And,  in  that  kind,  swears  you  do  more  usurp 
Than  doth  your  brother  that  hath  banish'd  you. 
To-day  my  lord  of  Amiens  and  myself 
Did  steal  behind  him  as  he  lay  along 
Under  an  oak,  whose  antique  root  peeps  out 
Upon  the  brook  that  brawls  along  this  wood  : 
To  the  which  place  a  poor  sequester'd  stag, 
That  from  the  hunters'  aim  had  ta'en  a  hurt, 
Did  come  to  languish  ;  and,  indeed,  my  lord, 
The  wretched  animal  heav'd  forth  such  groans, 
That  their  discharge  did  stretch  his  leathern  coat 
Almost  to  bursting,  and  the  big  round  tears 
Cours'd  one  another  down  his  innocent  nosa 
In  piteous  chase  :  and  thus  the  hairy  fool, 
Much  marked  of  the  melancholy  Jaques, 
Stood  on  the  extremest  verge  of  the  swift  brook, 
Augmenting  it  with  tears." 

The  sympathy  of  the  Duke  and  the  First  Lord  for 
the  "  poor  dappled  fools'1  is  sincere,  but  that  of  Jaques, 
as  we  understand  when  we  come  to  know  him  better, 
is  mere  sentimental  affectation.  We  may  be  sure  that 
the  Duke  rather  than  Jaques  represents  the  feeling  of 
Shakespeare  himself  for  the  unfortunate  creatures. 

In  another  part  of  the  same  play  (i.  2)  the  poet, 
through  the  mouth  of  Touchstone,  the  philosophic 
Fool,  gives  a  sly  rap  at  people  who  find  amusement  in 
brutal  games.  Le  Beau,  a  courtier  who  is  really  a  kind- 
hearted  fellow,  as  his  conduct  elsewhere  proves,  meet- 
ing Rosalind  and  Celia,  tells  them  that  they  have  just 
"lost  much  fine  sport,"  that  is,  as  he  explains,  some 
"good  wrestling."  They  ask  him  to  "tell  the  manner 
of  it,"  and  he  says :— 


142  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

"  There  comes  an  old  man  and  his  three  sons, — three 
proper  young  men  of  excellent  growth  and  presence.  The 
eldest  of  the  three  wrestled  with  Charles,  the  duke's  wres- 
tler ;  which  Charles  in  a  moment  threw  him,  and  broke 
three  of  his  ribs,  that  there  is  little  hope  of  life  in  him  :  so 
he  served  the  second,  and  so  the  third.  Yonder  they  lie  ; 
the  poor  old  man,  their  father,  making  such  pitiful  dole 
over  them  that  all  the  beholders  take  his  part  with 
weeping. 

Rosalind.  Alas ! 

Touchstone.  But  what  is  the  sport,  monsieur,  that  the 
ladies  have  lost? 

Le  Beau.  Why,  this  that  I  speak  of. 

Touchstone.  Thus  men  may  grow  wiser  every  day !  It  is 
the  first  time  that  ever  I  heard  breaking  of  ribs  was  sport 
for  ladies. 

Celia.  Or  I,  I  promise  thee." 

Wrestling,  by  the  bye,  was  a  common  exercise  with 
the  rural  youth  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  and  no  doubt 
the  smaller  boys  often  tried  their  hand  at  it. 

ARCHERY. 

Archery  was  a  popular  pastime  in  those  days  with 
young  and  old.  The  bow  and  arrow  continued  to  be 
used  in  warfare  long  after  the  discovery  of  gunpowder. 
As  late  as  1572  Queen  Elizabeth  promised  to  furnish 
six  thousand  men  for  Charles  IX.  of  France,  half  of 
whom  were  to  be  archers.  Ralph  Smithe,  a  writer  on 
Martial  Discipline  in  the  reign  of  the  same  queen,  says  : 
"Captains  and  officers  should  be  skilful  of  that  most 
noble  weapon  the  long  bow ;  and  to  see  that  their 
soldiers,  according  to  their  draught  and  strength,  have 
good  bows,"  etc.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  several 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  143 

laws  were  made  for  promoting  the  use  of  the  long  bow. 
One  of  these  required  every  male  subject  to  exercise 
himself  in  archery,  and  also  to  keep  a  long  bow  with 
arrows  continually  in  his  house.  Men  sixty  years  old, 
ecclesiastics,  and  certain  justices  were  exempted  from 
this  obligation.  Fathers  and  guardians  were  com- 
manded to  teach  the  male  children  the  use  of  the  long 
bow,  and  to  have  bows  provided  for  them  as  soon  as 
they  were  seven  years  old ;  and  masters  were  ordered 
to  furnish  bows  for  their  apprentices,  and  to  compel 
them  to  learn  to  shoot  therewith  upon  holidays  and  at 
every  other  convenient  time. 

In  1545  Roger  Ascham  published  his  Toxophilus,  or 
the  Schole  of  Shooting,  in  which  he  advocated  the  prac. 
tice  of  archery  among  scholars  as  among  the  people  at 
large,  and  gave  full  directions  for  making  and  using 
bows  and  arrows.  He  dedicated  the  book  to  Henry 
VIII.,  who  rewarded  the  patriotic  service  with  a  pension 
of  ten  pounds  a  year. 

Ascham  urged  that  attention  should  be  paid  to  train- 
ing the  young  in  archery;  "for  children,"  he  said,  "if 
sufficient  pains  are  taken  with  them  at  the  outset,  may 
much  more  easily  be  taught  to  shoot  well  than  men," 
because  the  latter  have  frequently  more  trouble  to  un- 
learn their  bad  habits  than  would  suffice  to  teach 
them  good  ones. 

One  of  the  statutes  of  Henry  VIII.  forbade  any  per- 
son who  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-four  years  from 
shooting  at  a  mark  less  than  220  yards  distant;  and  a 
writer  of  1602  tells  of  Cornish  archers  who  could  send 
an  arrow  to  a  distance  of  480  yards.  Matches  of  archery 
were  held  under  the  patronage  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Eliza- 
beth, to  encourage  skill  in  the  art.  At  one  of  these,  held 


144  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

in  London  in  1583,  there  was  a  procession  of  three  thou- 
sand archers,  each  of  whom  had  a  long  bow  and  four 
arrows.  Nine  hundred  and  forty-two  of  the  men  had 
chains  of  gold  about  their  necks.  The  company  was 
guarded  by  four  thousand  whifflers  (heralds  or  ushers) 
and  billmen,  besides  pages  and  footmen.  They  went 
through  the  city  to  Smithfield,  where,  after  perform- 
ing various  evolutions,  they  "  shot  at  a  target  for 
honor." 

There  are  many  allusions  to  archery  in  Shakespeare's 
works,  only  one  or  two  of  which  can  be  mentioned  here. 
In  2  Henry  IV.  (iii.  2.  49)  Shallow,  referring  to  "  old 
Double,"  who  is  dead,  says  of  him  :  "  Jesu,  Jesu,  dead  ! 
a'  drew  a  good  bow ;  and  dead  !  a'  shot  a  fine  shoot : 
John  o'  Gaunt  loved  him  well,  and  betted  much  money 
on  his  head.  Dead  !  a'  would  have  clapped  i'  the  clout 
at  twelve  score ;  and  carried  you  a  forehand  shaft  at 
fourteen  and  fourteen  and  a  half,  that  it  would  have 
done  a  man's  heart  good  to  see." 

To  "clap  in  the  clout"  was  to  hit  the  clout,  or  the 
white  mark  in  the  centre  of  the  target.  "  Twelve  score  " 
means  twelve  score  or  two  hundred  and  forty  yards ; 
and  the  "fourteen"  and  "fourteen  and  a  half"  also 
refer  to  scores  of  yards.  The  "  forehand  shaft "  is 
among  the  kinds  of  arrow  mentioned  by  Ascham,  who 
says :  "  the  forehand  must  have  a  big  breast,  to  bear 
the  great  might  of  the  bow  " ;  that  is,  the  great  strain 
in  shooting  at  long  range. 

In  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  (i.  i.  39)  Beatrice,  mak- 
ing fun  of  Benedick,  says :  "  He  set  up  his  bills  here  in 
Messina  and  challenged  Cupid  at  the  flight;  and  my 
uncle's  fool,  reading  the  challenge,  subscribed  for 
Cupid,  and  challenged  him  at  the  bird-bolt";  that  is, 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  145 

he  posted  a  challenge,  inviting  Cupid  to  compete  with 
him  in  shooting  with  \hzflight,  a  kind  of  Jight-feathered 
arrow  used  for  great  distances.  The  fool  subscribed 
(wrote  underneath)  a  challenge  to  Benedick  to  try  his 
skill  with  the  cross-bow  and  bird-bolt,  a  short,  thick, 
blunt-headed  arrow  used  by  children  and  fools,  who 
could  not  be  trusted  with  pointed  arrows.  The  point 
of  the  joke  is  that  Benedick,  though  he  has  the  vanity 
to  think  he  can  compete  in  feats  of  archery  with  an 
expert  bowman  like  Cupid,  is  only  fit  to  contend  with 
beginners  and  blunderers. 

In  Loves  Labour  V  Lost  (iv.  3.  23)  Cupid's  own  arrow 
is  jocosely  called  a  bird-bolt.  Biron,  finding  that  the 
King  has  fallen  in  love  with  the  French  Princess,  ex- 
claims, "  Shot,  by  heaven  !  Proceed,  sweet  Cupid  ;  thou 
hast  thumped  him  with  thy  bird-bolt." 


HUNTING 

Professor  Baynes,  in  his  article  on  Shakespeare  in 
the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  says :  "  It  is  clear  that  in 
his  early  years  the  poet  had  some  experience  of  hunt- 
ing, hawking,  coursing,  wild-duck  shooting,  and  the  like. 
Many  of  these  sports  were  pursued  by  the  local  gentry 
and  the  yeomen  together;  and  the  poet,  as  the  son  of 
a  well-connected  burgess  of  Stratford,  who  had  recently 
been  mayor  of  the  town  and  possessed  estates  in  the 
county,  would  be  well  entitled  to  share  in  them,  while 
his  handsome  presence  and  courteous  bearing  would 
be  likely  to  ensure  him  a  hearty  welcome." 

His  love  for  dogs  and  horses  is  illustrated  by  many 
passages  in  his  works.  There  was  never  a  more 
graphic  description  of  hounds  than  he  puts  into  the 


146  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

mouth  of  Theseus  in  the  Midsummer- Night's  Dream 
(iv.  i.  1 08)  :— 

"Theseus.  Go,  one  of  you,  find  out  the  forester; 
For  now  our  observation  is  perform'd  : 
And  since  we  have  the  vaward  of  the  day, 
My  love  shall  hear  the  music  of  my  hounds. 
Uncouple  in  the  western  valley;  let  them  go! — - 
Despatch,  I  say,  and  find  the  forester. — 
We  will,  fair  queen,  up  to  the  mountain's  top, 
And  mark  the  musical  confusion 
Of  hounds  and  echo  in  conjunction. 

Hippolyta.  I  was  with  Hercules  and  Cadmus  once, 
.When  in  a  wood  of  Crete  they  bay'd  the  bear 
With  hounds  of  Sparta :  never  did  I  hear 
Such  gallant  chiding:  for,  besides  the  groves, 
The  skies,  the  fountains,  every  region  near 
Seem'd  all  one  mutual  cry.    I  never  heard 
So  musical  a  discord,  such  sweet  thunder. 

Theseus.  My  hounds  are  bred  out  of  the  Spartan  kind, 
So  flew'd,  so  sanded,  and  their  heads  are  hung 
With  ears  that  sweep  away  the  morning  dew; 
Crook-knee'd,  and  dew-lapp'd  like  Thessalian  bulls  ; 
Slow  in  pursuit,  but  match'd  in  mouth  like  bells, 
Each  under  each.     A  cry  more  tuneable 
Was  never  holla'd  to,  nor  cheer'd  with  horn, 
In  Crete,  in  Sparta,  nor  in  Thessaly: 
Judge  when  you  hear." 

The  talk  of  the  hunters  about  the  dogs  in  The  Tam- 
ing of  the  Shrew  (ind.  i.  16)  is  in  the  same  vein  : — 

"Lord.  Huntsman,!  charge  thee,  tender  well  my  hounds — 
Brach  Merriman,  the  poor  cur,  is  emboss'd — 
And  couple  Clowder  with  the  deep-mouth'd  brach. 
Saw'st  thou  not,  boy,  how  Silver  made  it  good 


GARDEN    AT   NEW   PLACE 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  147 

At  the  hedge  corner,  in  the  coldest  fault? 
I  would  not  lose  the  dog  for  twenty  pound. 

i  Hunter.  Why,  Bellman  is  as  good  as  he,  my  lord  ; 
He  cried  upon  it  at  the  merest  loss, 
And  twice  to-day  pick'd  out  the  dullest  scent : 
Trust  me,  I  take  him  for  the  better  dog. 

Lord.  Thou  art  a  fool :  if  Echo  were  as  fleet, 
I  would  esteem  him  worth  a  dozen  such. 
But  sup  them  well,  and  look  unto  them  all ; 
To-morrow  I  intend  to  hunt  again." 

In  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (i.  i.  96)  Page  de- 
fends his  greyhound  against  the  criticisms  of  Slender, 
and  Shallow  takes  his  part : — 

"Slender.  How  does  your  fallow  greyhound,  sir?  I 
heard  say,  he  was  outrun  on  Cotsall. 

Page.  It  could  not  be  judged,  sir. 

Slender.  You'll  not  confess,  you'll  not  confess. 

Shallow.  That  he  will  not. — 'T  is  your  fault,  't  is  your 
fault :  't  is  a  good  dog. 

Page.  A  cur,  sir. 

Shallow.  Sir,  he  's  a  good  dog,  and  a  fair  dog;  can  there 
be  more  said?  he  is  good  and  fair." 

Cotsall  (or  Cotswold)  is  an  allusion  to  the  Cotswold 
downs  in  Gloucestershire,  celebrated  for  coursing  (hunt- 
ing the  hare),  for  which  their  fine  turf  fitted  them,  and 
also  for  other  rural  sports. 

The  description  of  the  horse  in  Venus  and  Adonis 
(259),  a  youthful  work  of  Shakespeare's,  is  famous  : — 

"  But,  lo,  from  forth  a  copse  that  neighbours  by, 
A  breeding  jennet,  lusty,  young,  and  proud, 
Adonis'  trampling  courser  doth  espy, 
And  forth  she  rushes,  snorts,  and  neighs  aloud ; 


148  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

The  strong-neck'd  steed,  being  tied  unto  a  tree, 
Breaketh  his  rein,  and  to  her  straight  goes  he. 

Imperiously  he  leaps,  he  neighs,  he  bounds, 
And  now  his  woven  girths  he  breaks  asunder; 
The  bearing  earth  with  his  hard  hoof  he  wounds, 
Whose  hollow  womb  resounds  like  heaven's  thunder; 
The  iron  bit  he  crushes  'tween  his  teeth, 
Controlling  what  he  was  controlled  with. 

His  ears  up-prick'd  ;  his  braided  hanging  mane 
Upon  his  compass'd  crest  now  stand  on  end  ; 
His  nostrils  drink  the  air,  and  forth  again, 
As  from  a  furnace,  vapours  doth  he  send  ; 
His  eye,  which  scornfully  glisters  like  fire, 
Shows  his  hot  courage  and  his  high  desire. 

Sometime  he  trots,  as  if  he  told  the  steps, 

With  gentle  majesty  and  modest  pride ; 

Anon  he  rears  upright,  curvets  and  leaps, 

As  who  should  say,  '  Lo !   thus  my  strength  is  tried  ; 
And  this  I  do  to  captivate  the  eye 
Of  the  fair  breeder  that  is  standing  by.' 

What  recketh  he  his  rider's  angry  stir, 

His  flattering  'Holla',  or  his  'Stand,  I  say'? 

What  cares  he  now  for  curb  or  pricking  spur, 

For  rich  caparisons,  or  trapping  gay? 

He  sees  his  love,  and  nothing  else  he  sees, 
Nor  nothing  else  with  his  proud  sight  agrees. 

Look,  when  a  painter  would  surpass  the  life, 
In  limning  out  a  well-proportion'd  steed, 
His  art  with  nature's  workmanship  at  strife, 
As  if  the  dead  the  living  should  exceed  ; 
So  did  this  horse  excel  a  common  one, 
In  shape,  in  courage,  colour,  pace,  and  bone. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  149 

Round-hoof'd,  short-jointed,  fetlocks  shag  and  long, 
Broad  breast,  full  eye,  small  head,  and  nostril  wide, 
High  crest,  short  ears,  straight  legs,  and  passing  strong, 
Thin  mane,  thick  tail,  broad  buttock,  tender  hide  : 
Look,  what  a  horse  should  have  he  did  not  lack, 
Save  a  proud  rider  on  so  proud  a  back. 

Sometime  he  scuds    far  off,  and  there  he  stares ; 

Anon  he  starts  at  stirring  of  a  feather; 

To  bid  the  wind  a  base  he  now  prepares, 

And  whether  he  run  or  fly  they  know  not  whether; 
For  thro'  his  mane  and  tail  the  high  wind  sings, 
Fanning  the  hairs,  who  wave  like  feather'd  wings." 

In  Richard  II.  (v.  5.  72)  the  dialogue  between  the 
Groom  and  the  King  could  have  been  written  only  by 
one  who  knew  by  experience  the  affection  that  one 
comes  to  feel  for  a  favorite  horse  : — 

"  Groom.  I  was  a  poor  groom  of  thy  stable,  king, 
When  thou  wert  king ;  who,  travelling  towards  York, 
With  much  ado  at  length  have  gotten  leave 
To  look  upon  my  sometimes  royal  master's  face. 
O,  how  it  yearn'd  my  heart,  when  I  beheld, 
In  London  streets,  that  coronation  day, 
When  Bolingbroke  rode  on  roan  Barbary, 
That  horse  that  thou  so  often  hast  bestrid, 
That  horse  that  I  so  carefully  have  dress'd  ! 

King  Richard.  Rode  he  on  Barbary?     Tell  me,  gentle 

friend, 
How  went  he  under  him  ? 

Groom.  So  proud  as  if  he  had  disdain'd  the  ground. 

King  Richard.   So  proud  that   Bolingbroke  was  on  his 

back! 

That  jade  hath  eat  bread  from  my  royal  hand  ; 
This  hand  hath  made  him  proud  with  clapping  him. 


150  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

Would  he  not  stumble?     Would  he  not  fall  down, — 
Since  pride  must  have  a  fall, — and  break  the  neck 
Of  that  proud  man  that  did  usurp  his  back  ?  • 
Forgiveness,  horse !  why  do  I  rail  on  thee, 
Since  thou,  created  to  be  awed  by  man, 
Wast  born  to  bear  ?     I  was  not  made  a  horse ; 
And  yet  I  bear  a  burden  like  an  ass, 
Spur-gall'd  and  tir'd  by  jauncing  Bolingbroke." 

The  description  of  hare-hunting  in  Venus  and  Adonis 
(679)  must  also  have  been  based  on  actual  experience 
in  the  sport : — 

"  And  when  thou  hast  on  foot  the  purblind  hare. 
Mark  the  poor  wretch,  to  overshoot  his  troubles 
How  he  outruns  the  winds,  and  with  what  care 
He  cranks  and  crosses  with  a  thousand  doubles : 
The  many  musits  through  the  which  he  goes, 
Are  like  a  labyrinth  to  amaze  his  foes. 

"  Sometime  he  runs  among  a  flock  of  sheep, 
To  make  the  cunning  hounds  mistake  their  smell, 
And  sometime  where  earth-delving  conies  keep, 
To  stop  the  loud  pursuers  in  their  yell, 

And  sometime  sorteth  with  a  herd  of  deer; 
Danger  deviseth  shifts,  wit  waits  on  fear: 

"  For  there  his  smell  with  others  being  mingled, 
The  hot  scent-snuffing  hounds  are  driven  to  doubt, 
Ceasing  their  clamorous  cry  till  they  have  singled 
With  much  ado  the  cold  fault  cleanly  out; 

Then  do  they  spend  their  mouths  :  Echo  replies, 
As  if  another  chase  were  in  the  skies. 

"  By  this,  poor  Wat,  far  off  upon  a  hill, 
Stands  on  his  hinder  legs  with  listening  ear, 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  151 

To  hearken  if  his  foes  pursue  him  still : 
Anon  their  loud  alarums  he  doth  hear; 
And  now  his  grief  may  be  compared  well 
To  one  sore  sick  that  hears  the  passing-bell. 

"  Then  shalt  thou  see  the  dew-bedabbled  wretch 
Turn,  and  return,  indenting  with  the  way ; 
Each  envious  brier  his  weary  legs  doth  scratch, 
Each  shadow  makes   him  stop,  each  murmur  stay : 
For  misery  is  trodden  on  by  many 
And  being  low  never  reliev'd  by  any." 

Mr.  John  R.  Wise  comments  on  this  passage  as  fol- 
lows :  "  This  description  of  the  run  is  wonderfully 
true;  how  the  'dew-bedabbled  wretch'  betakes  herself 
to  a  flock  of  sheep  to  lead  the  hounds  off  the  scent ; 
how  she  stops  to  listen,  and  again  makes  another 
double.  Mark,  too,  the  beauty  and  aptness  of  the 
epithets,  'the  hot  scent -snuffing'  hounds,  and  the 
'earth-delving'  conies;  but  more  especially  mark  the 
pity  that  the  poet  feels  for  the  poor  animal,  showing 
that  he  possessed  a  true  feeling  heart,  without  which 
no  line  of  poetry  can  ever  be  written." 

FOWLING. 

There  are  many  allusions  to  fowling  in  Shakespeare's 
works.  He  had  evidently  seen  a  good  deal  of  it,  prob- 
ably in  his  boyhood,  whether  he  had  had  actual  ex- 
perience in  it  or  not. 

In  As  You  Like  It  (v.  4.  in)  the  Duke  says  of 
Touchstone,  who  combined  much  philosophy  with  his 
professional  foolery,  "  He  uses  his  folly  like  a  stalking- 
horse,  and  under  the  presentation  of  that  he  shoots  his 


152  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

wit."  And  in  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  (ii.  3.  95), 
when  Don  Pedro  and  his  companions  are  talking  about 
Benedick,  whom  they  know  to  be  hid  within  hearing, 
Claudio  says:  "Stalk  on,  stalk  on;  the  fowl  sits"; 
that  is,  go  on  with  the  practical  joke,  for  the  victim 
does  not  suspect  it. 

The  stalking-horse,  originally,  was  a  horse  trained 
for  the  purpose  and  covered  with  trappings,  so  as  to 
conceal  the  sportsman  from  the  game.  It  was  particu- 
larly useful  to  the  archer  by  enabling  him  to  approach 
the  birds,  without  being  seen  by  them,  near  enough  to 
reach  them  with  his  arrows.  As  it  was  not  always 
convenient  to  use  a  real  horse  for  this  purpose,  the 
fowler  had  recourse  to  an  artificial  one,  made  of  stuffed 
canvas  and  painted  like  a  horse,  but  light  enough  to 
be  moved  with  one  hand.  Hence  stalking-horse  came 
to  be  used  figuratively  for  anything  put  forward  to  con- 
ceal a  more  important  object,  or  to  mask  one's  real  in- 
tention. Thus  an  old  writer  describes  a  hypocrite  as 
one  "  that  makes  religion  his  stalking-horse." 

In  the  Midsummer-Night's  Dream  (iii.  2.  20)  Puck,  de- 
scribing the  fright  of  the  clowns  when  Bottom  makes  his 
appearance  with  the  ass's  head  on  his  shoulders,  says  : — 

"  Anon  his  Thisbe  must  be  answered, 
And  forth  my  mimic  comes.     When  they  him  spy, 
As  wild  geese  that  the  creeping  fowler  eye, 
Or  russet-pated  choughs,  many  in  sort, 
Rising  and  cawing  at  the  gun's  report, 
Sever  themselves  and  madly  sweep  the  sky, 
So  at  his  sight  away  his  fellows  fly." 

In  i  Henry  IV.  (iv.  2.  21)  Falstaff  says  that  his  re- 
cruits are  "  such  as  fear  the  report  of  a  caliver  [mus- 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  153 

ket]  worse  than  a  struck  fowl  or  a  hurt  wild-duck." 
And  in  Much  Ado  (ii.  i.  209)  Benedick  says  of  Claudio, 
who  runs  away  from  his  friend's  bantering:  "Alas, 
poor  hurt  fowl !  now  will  he  creep  into  sedges  ";  that 
is,  he  will  go  and  brood  over  his  vexation  in  solitude. 

In  The  Tempest  (ii.  i.  85)  we  have  an  allusion  to 
"  bat-fowling,"  a  method  of  fowling  by  night  in  which 
the  birds  were  started  from  their  nests  and  stupefied 
by  a  sudden  blaze  of  light  from  torches.  Gervase 
Markham,  a  contemporary  of  Shakespeare,  in  his  Hun- 
gers Prevention,  or  the  Whole  Arte  of  Fowling,  says  :  "  I 
think  meet  to  proceed  to  Bat-fowling,  which  is  likewise 
a  nighty  taking  of  all  sorts  of  great  and  small  birds, 
which  rest  not  on  the  earth,  but  on  shrubs,  tall  bushes, 
hawthorn  trees,  and  other  trees,  and  may  fitly  and  most 
conveniently  be  used  in  all  woody,  rough,  and  bushy 
countries,  but  not  in  the  champaign,"  or  open  country. 
He  then  goes  on  to  explain  how  it  is  carried  on.  Some 
of  the  sportsmen  have  torches  to  start  the  birds,  while 
others  are  armed  with  "  long  poles,  very  rough  and 
bushy  at  the  upper  ends,"  with  which  they  beat  down 
the  birds  bewildered  by  the  light  and  capture  them. 

HAWKING. 

Hawking,  or  falconry,  the  art  of  training  and  flying 
hawks  for  the  purpose  of  catching  other  birds,  was  a 
sport  generally  limited  to  the  nobility ;  but  Shake- 
speare's many  allusions  to  it  show  that  he  was  very 
familiar  with  all  its  forms  and  its  technicalities.  He 
doubtless  saw  a  good  deal  of  it  in  his  boyhood  rambles 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Stratford. 

The  practice  of  hawking  declined  with  the  improve- 


154  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

ment  in  muskets,  which  afforded  a  readier  and  surer 
method  of  procuring  game,  with  an  equal  degree  of 
out-of-door  exercise.  As  the  expense  of  training  and 
keeping  hawks  was  very  great,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the 
gun  soon  superseded  the  bird  with  sportsmen.  The 
change,  indeed,  was  surprisingly  rapid.  Hentzner,  in 
his  Itinerary,  written  in  1598,  tells  us  that  hawking  was 
then  the  general  sport  of  the  English  nobility ;  and 
most  of  the  best  treatises  upon  this  subject  were  writ- 
ten about  that  time;  but  in  the  latter  part  of  the  next 
century  the  art  was  almost  unknown. 

Shakespeare  knew  all  the  different  kinds  of  hawks. 
He  refers  several  times  to  the  haggard,  or  wild  hawk. 
In  Much  Ado  (iii.  i.  36)  Hero  says  of  Beatrice  :— 

"  I  know  her  spirits  are  as  coy  and  wild 
As  haggards  of  the  rock." 

In  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (iv.  i.  196)  Petruchio 
employs  the  same  figure  with  reference  to  Katha- 
rina : — 

"Another  way  I  have  to  man  my  haggard, 
To  make  her  come  and  know  her  keeper's  call  " ; 

where  man  means  to  tame.  Again  in  the  same  play 
(iv.  2.  39)  the  shrew  is  called  "this  proud  disdainful 
haggard." 

The  nestling  or  unfledged  hawk  was  called  an  eyas; 
and  in  Hamlet  (ii.  2.  355)  the  boy  actors,  who  were  be- 
coming popular  when  the  play  was  written,  are  sneei- 
ingly  described  as  "  an  aery  of  children,  little  eyases." 
In  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (iii.  3.  22),  Mrs.  Ford 
addresses  Robin,  the  page  of  Falstaff  thus :  "  How  now, 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY       .  155 

my  eyas-musket !   what  news  with  you  ?"      The   eyas- 
musket  was  the  young  sparrow-hawk,  a  small  and  in- 


KLIZABETH    HAWKING 


ferior  species  of  hawk.  The  word  is  derived  from  the 
Latin  musca,  a  fly,  and  probably  refers  to  the  small 
size  of  the  bird.  It  is  curious  that,  as  applied  to  the 


156  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

firearm,  it  has  the  same  origin.  The  gun  was  figura- 
tively compared  to  the  hawk  as  a  means  of  taking 
birds.  Similarly,  a  kind  of  cannon  used  in  the  i6th 
century  was  called  a  falcon  ;  and  another,  of  smaller 
bore,  was  known  as  a  falconet. 

In  Romeo  and  Juliet  (ii.  2.  160),  when  the  lover  has 
left  his  lady  and  she  would  call  him  back,  she  says  : — 

"Hist,  Romeo,  hist!     O  for  a  falconer's  voice 
To  call  this  tassel-gentle  back  again  !" 

The  tassel-gentle,  or  tercel-gentle,  was  the  male  hawk. 
Cotgrave,  in  his  French  Dictionary  (edition  of  1672) 
defines  tiercelet  as  "the  Tassell  or  male  of  any  kind  of 
Hawk,  so  termed  because  he  is,  commonly,  a  third  part 
less  than  the  female."  The  gentle  referred  to  the  ease 
with  which  the  bird  was  trained. 

We  find  the  word  tercel  in  Troilus  and  Cressida  (Hi. 
2.  56):  "The  falcon  as  the  tercel,  for  all  the  ducks  in 
the  river " ;  that  is,  the  female  bird  is  as  good  as 
the  male. 

The  male  bird,  however,  was  seldom  used  in  hawk- 
ing, on  account  of  its  inferiority  in  size  and  strength. 
In  descriptions  of  the  sport  we  find  the  female  pro- 
noun generally  applied  to  the  bird.  Tennyson  in 
Lancelot  and  Elaine  originally  wrote  : — 

"  No  surer  than  our  falcon  yesterday, 
Who  lost  the  hern  we  slipt  him  at "  ; 

but  he  afterwards  changed  "him"  to  "her." 

The  hawk  was  "  hooded,"  that  is,  had  a  hood  put 
over  its  head,  until  it  was  slipped,  or  let  fly  at  the 
game ;  and  to  this  we  have  several  allusions  in  Shake- 
speare. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  157 

In  Henry  V.  (iii.  7.  121)  the  Constable,  sneering  at 
the  Dauphin,  says  of  his  boasted  valor:  "Never  any- 
body saw  it  but  his  lackey  :  't  is  a  hooded  valour ;  and 
when  it  appears  it  will  bate."  To  bate,  or  bait,  was  to 
flutter  the  wings,  as  the  bird  did  when  unhooded.  In 
this  passage  there  is  a  pun  on  bate  in  this  sense  and 
as  meaning  to  abate  or  diminish. 

In  Othello  (iii.  3.  260),  when  the  Moor  has  been  told 
by  lago  that  Desdemona  may  be  false,  he  says  : — 

"  If  I  do  prove  her  haggard, 

"  Though  that  her  jesses  were  my  dear  heart-strings, 
I'd  whistle  her  off  and  let  her  down  the  wind, 
To  prey  at  fortune." 

Here  we  have  several  hawking  terms  in  a  single  sen- 
tence. Haggard,  already  mentioned,  is  used  as  an  ad- 
jective, meaning  wild  or  lawless.  rV\ie  jesses  were  straps 
of  leather  or  silk  attached  to  the  foot  of  the  hawk,  by 
which  the  falconer  held  her.  The  bird  was  whistled  off 
when  first  set  free  for  flight :  and  she  was  always  let 
fly  against  the  wind.  If  she  flew  with  the  wind  behind 
her,  she  seldom  returned.  If  therefore  a  hawk  was  for 
any  reason  to  be  dismissed,  she  was  let  down  the  wind, 
and  from  that  time  shifted  for  herself  and  preyed  at 
fortune,  or  at  random. 

The  legs  of  the  hawk  were  adorned  with  two  small 
bells,  not  both  of  the  same  sound  but  differing  by  a 
semitone.  They  were  intended  to  frighten  the  game, 
so  that  it  could  be  more  readily  caught.  This  is  alluded 
to  in  Lucrece,  511  : — 

"  Harmless  Lucretia,  marking  what  he  tells 
With  trembling  fear,  as  fowl  hear  falcon's  bells." 


158  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

Touchstone  also  refers  to  the  bells  in  As  You  Like 
It  (iii.  3.  81):  "  As  the  ox  hath  his  bow,  sir,  the  horse 
his  curb,  and  the  falcon  her  bells,  so  man  hath  his 
desires."  There  is  another  figurative  allusion  to  them 
in  3  Henry  VI.  i.  i.  47,  where  Warwick,  boasting  of 
his  power,  says : — 

"  Neither  the  king,  nor  he  that  loves  him  best, 
The  proudest  he  that  holds  up  Lancaster, 
Dares  stir  a  wing  if  Warwick  shake  his  bells." 

In  England  mews  is  the  name  commonly  given  to  a 
livery  stable,  or  place  where  carriage  horses  are  kept. 
The  word  has  a  curious  connection  with  hawking.  A 
bird  was  said  to  mew,  when  it  moulted  or  changed  its 
feathers.  When  hawks  were  moulting  they  were  shut 
up  in  a  cage  or  coop,  which  was  called  a  mew.  The 
royal  stables  in  London  got  the  name  of  mews  because 
they*  were  built  where  the  mews  of  the  king's  hawks 
had  been  situated.  This  was  done  in  the  year  1537, 
the  hawks  being  removed  to  another  place.  The 
word  mews,  being  thus  used  for  the  royal  stables,  grad- 
ually came  to  be  applied  to  other  buildings  of  the  kind. 

It  would  take  too  much  space  to  quote  and  explain 
all  the  allusions  to  hawking  in  Shakespeare's  works. 
The  few  here  given  may  serve  as  samples  of  this  very 
interesting  class  of  technical  terms,  most  of  which  be- 
came obsolete  when  the  art  ceased  to  be  practised. 

Before  dropping  the  subject,  however,  I  may  remind 
the  young  reader  that  many  of  the  quotations  here 
given  to  illustrate  archery,  hawking,  and  other  ancient 
arts,  sports,  and  games,  also  illustrate  the  fact  that  the 
figurative  language  of  a  period  is  affected  by  its  man- 
ners and  customs.  The  one  needs  to  be  known  in 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 


159 


:~rs^== 


BOY   WITH    HAWK    AND    HOUNDS 


order  to  understand  the  other.  To  take  a  fresh  ex- 
ample, John  Skelton,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Henry 
VIII.,  refers  to  a  lady  thus : — 

"  Merry  Margaret, 

As  midsummer  flower; 
Gentle  as  falcon, 

Or  hawk  of  the  tower." 


i6o  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

If  we  should  compare  a  young  lady  nowadays  to  a 
falcon  or  a  hawk,  she  would  hardly  take  it  as  a  com- 
pliment ;  and  this  very  simile  has  been  criticised  by  a 
writer  who  evidently  did  not  understand  it.  He  says  : 
"  We  would  rather  be  excused  from  wedding  a  lady  of 
that  ravenous  class.  This  simile,  we  fear,  was  predic- 
tive of  sharp  nails  after  marriage."  He  forgets,  or 
does  not  know,  that  this  was  written  when,  as  we  have 
learned,  the  art  of  hawking  was  in  vogue.  The  trained 
falcons  were  as  gentle  and  docile  as  any  dove.  They 
were  domestic  pets,  and  high-born  ladies  especially 
took  delight  in  them.  Shakespeare  in  his  gist  Sonnet 
says  : — 

"  Some  glory  in  their  birth,  some  in  their  skill, 
Some  in  their  wealth,  some  in  their  bodies'  force, 
Some  in  their  garments,  though  new-fangled  ill, 
Some  in  their  hawks  and  hounds,  some  in  their  horse. 

******* 

Thy  love  is  better  than  high  birth  to  me, 
Richer  than  wealth,  prouder  than  garments'  cost, 
Of  more  delight  than  hawks  or  horses  be, 
And,  having  thee,  of  all  men's  pride  I  boast." 

And  in  Much  Ado  (iii.  4.  54)  when  Beatrice  sighs, 
Margaret  asks  :  "  For  a  hawk,  a  horse,  or  a  husband  ?" 
Commentators  on  Shakespeare,  like  the  critic  quoted 
above,  have  sometimes  erred  in  their  interpretation  of 
a  passage  because  they  did  not  understand  the  fact  or 
usage  upon  which  a  figure  or  allusion  was  founded. 

THEATRICAL    ENTERTAINMENTS. 

When  the  players  came  to  town  I  suspect  that  no 
Stratford  boy  was  more  delighted  than  William.     John 


ITINERANT    PLAYERS   IN    A   COUNTRY    HALL 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  161 

Shakespeare,  like  his  fellows  in  the  town  council,  seems 
to  have  been  a  lover  of  the  drama.  When  he  was 
bailiff  in  1569  he  granted  licenses  for  performances  of 
the  Queen's  and  the  Earl  of  Worcester's  companies. 

The  Queen's  company  received  nine  shillings  and  the 
Earl's  twelvepence  for  their  first  entertainments,  to 
which  the  public  were  admitted  free.  They  doubtless 
gave  others  afterwards  for  which  an  entrance  fee  was 
charged. 

Did  John  Shakespeare  take  the  five-year-old  William 
to  see  them  act  ?  He  may  have  done  so,  for  we  know 
that  in  the  city  of  Gloucester  (only  thirty  miles  from 
Stratford)  a  man  took  his  little  boy,  born  in  the  same 
year  with  Shakespeare,  to  a  free  dramatic  performance 
similarly  provided  by  the  corporation.  In  his  auto- 
biography, written  in  his  old  age,  the  person  tells  how 
he  went  to  the  show  with  his  father  and  stood  between 
his  legs  as  he  sat  upon  one  of  the  benches. 

The  play  was  one  of  the  "  moralities "  then  in 
vogue,  and  the  good  man's  quaint  description  of  it 
is  worth  quoting  as  giving  an  idea  of  those  curious 
dramas  : — 

"  It  was  called  The  Cradle  of  Security,  wherein  was 
personated  a  king  or  some  great  prince,  with  his  court- 
iers of  several  kinds,  amongst  which  three  ladies  were 
in  special  grace  with  him  ;  and  they,  keeping  him  in 
delights  and  pleasures,  drew  him  from  his  graver  coun- 
sellors, .  .  .  that,  in  the  end,  they  got  him  to  lie  clown 
in  a  cradle  upon  the  stage,  where  these  three  ladies, 
joining  in  a  sweet  song,  rocked  him  asleep  that  he 
snorted  again ;  and  in  the  mean  time  closely  [that  is, 
secretly]  conveyed  under  the  clothes  wherewithal  he 
was  covered  a  vizard,  like  a  swine's  snout,  upon  his 


i62  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

face,  with  three  wire  chains  fastened  thereunto,  the 
other  end  whereof  being  holden  severally  by  those 
three  ladies,  who  fall  to  singing  again,  and  then  discov- 
ered [uncovered]  his  face  that  the  spectators  might  see 
how  they  had  transformed  him,  going  on  with  their 
singing. 

"Whilst  all  this  was  acting,  there  came  forth  of 
another  door  at  the  farthest  end  of  the  stage  two  old 
men,  the  one  in  blue  with  a  sergeant-at-arms  his  mace 
on  his  shoulder,  the  other  in  red  with  a  drawn  sword 
in«his  hand  and  leaning  with  the  other  hand  upon  the 
other's  shoulder ;  and  so  they  two  went  along  in  a  soft 
pace  round  about  by  the  skirt  of  the  stage,  till  at  last 
they  came  to  the  cradle,  when  all  the  court  was  in  the 
greatest  jollity ;  and  then  the  foremost  old  man  with 
his  mace  struck  a  fearful  blow  upon  the  cradle,  whereat 
all  the  courtiers,  with  the  three  ladies  and  the  vizard, 
all  vanished ;  and  the  desolate  prince  starting  up  bare- 
faced, and  finding  himself  thus  sent  for  to  judgment, 
made  a  lamentable  complaint  of  his  miserable  case, 
and  so  was  carried  away  by  wicked  spirits. 

"  This  prince  did  personate  in  the  moral  the  Wicked 
of  the  World ;  the  three  ladies,  Pride,  Covetousness, 
and  Luxury  [Lust] ;  the  two  old  men,  the  End  of  the 
World  and  the  Last  Judgment. 

"  This  sight  took  such  impression  in  me  that,  when 
1  came  towards  man's  estate,  it  was  as  fresh  in  my 
memory  as  if  I  had  seen  it  newly  acted." 

So  far  as  the  Stratford  records  show,  the  theatrical 
company  of  1569  was  the  first  that  had  visited  the 
town,  but  afterwards  players  came  thither  almost  every 
year. 

How  much  they  had  to  do  in  awakening  a  passion 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 


163 


for  the  drama  in  the  breast  of  young  William  and  shap- 
ing his  subsequent  career,  we  cannot  guess;  but  "the 
boy  is  father  of  the  man,"  and  in  all  that  we  know  of 
Shakespeare  as  a  boy  we  can  detect  the  germinal  in- 
fluences of  many  characteristics  of  the  man,  the  poet, 
and  the  dramatist. 


WILLIAM   KEMP   DANCING  THE  MORRIS 


PART  V 
HOLIDAYS,  FESTIVALS,  FAIRS,  ETC 


THE    BOUNDARY   ELM 


SAINT  GEORGE'S  DAY. 

WE  do  not  know  the  precise  date  of  William  Shake- 
speare's birth.  That  of  his  baptism  is  recorded  in  the 
parish  register  at  Stratford  as  the  26th  of  April,  1564. 
It  was  a  common  practice  then  to  baptize  infants  when 
they  were  three  days  old,  and  it  has  therefore  been 
assumed  that  William  was  born  on  the  23d  of  April ; 
but  the  rule,  if  rule  it  can  be  called,  was  often  varied 
from,  and  we  have  not  a  particle  of  evidence  that  it 
was  followed  in  this  instance.  It  should,  moreover,  be 


1 68  SHAKESPEARE    THE'  BOY 

understood  that  the  23d  of  April,  as  dates  were  then 
reckoned  in  England,  corresponded  to  our  3d  of  May. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  think  that  the  poet  made  his 
first  appearance  on  the  stage  of  human  life  on  that  par- 
ticular day,  for  it  was  Saint  George's  day,  a  great  holi- 
day and  time  of  feasting  throughout  the  kingdom,  Saint 
George -being  the  patron  saint  of  England. 

There  is  a  book  with  which  Shakespeare  was  doubt- 
less familiar  when  he  grew  up — a  collection  of  ancient 
stories  made  by  Richard  Johnson  —  in  which  Saint 
George  figures  as  one  of  the  "  Seven  Champions  of 
Christendom." 

From  this  book,  as  Mr.  A.  H.  Wall  tells  us,  we  learn 
"  how  Saint  George  was  imprisoned  by  the  black  King 
of  Morocco,  after  he  had  fought  so  miraculously  against 
the  Saracens,  and  slain  a  frightful  dragon,  which  had 
destroyed  entire  cities  by  the  poison  of  its  breath,  and 
had  every  day  devoured  a  beautiful  virgin.  Escaping 
from  prison,  he  carried  off  a  princess  he  had  rescued 
from  the  monster,  whom  neither  sword  nor  spear  could 
pierce,  and  brought  her  to  England,  where  the  twain 
'  lived  happily  ever  after/  in  Warwickshire,  where,  some- 
time in  the  third  century  they  died.  The  war-cry  of 
England  was  'Saint  George!'  as  that  of  France  was 
'  Montjoye  Saint  Denis  !' ;  and  to  this  day  '  by  George  !' 
is  an  exclamation  derived  from  the  ancient  custom  of 
swearing  by  that  Saint. 

"  The  ancient  ballad  of  Saint  George  and  the  Dragon 
(printed  in  the  Percy  Reliques)  tells  us  that  the  shire 
in  which  he  died  was  that  in  which  he  first  saw  the 
light ;  that  his  mother  expired  while  giving  him  birth ; 
that  a  weird  lady  of  the  woods  stole  him  when  an  in- 
fant and  educated  him  by  magic  power  to  become  a 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  169 

great  warrior ;  and  that  on  his  person,  prophetic  of  his 
future  career  and  greatness,  were  three  very  mysterious 
marks — on  one  shoulder  a  cross,  on  the  breast  a  dragon, 
and  round  one  leg  a  garter.  Their  meanings  were  re- 
vealed when  he  fought  so  astoundingly  as  a  crusader 
in  the  Holy  Land,  when  he  killed  the  magic  dragon  in 
Egypt,  and  rescued  the  King's  daughter,  Silene  or 
Sabra,  and,  after  his  death,  when  Edward  III.  founded 
the  knightly  Order  of  the  Garter,  and  made  Saint 
George  its  patron. 

"  Centuries  before  that,  the  soldiers  had  adopted  him 
as  their  special  patron,  as  had  also  not  a  few  of  the  old 
trade  guilds.  In  some  of  the  provincial  towns  and 
cities  regulations  for  the  annual  ceremony  of  'Riding 
the  George '  were  enforced  by  penalties  more  or  less 
severe.  An  ancestor  of  Shakespeare's,  John  Arden,  of 
Warwickshire,  'bequethed  his  white  harneis  complete 
to  the  church  of  Ashton  for  a  George  to  were  it.'  This 
was  in  the  reign  of  the  seventh  Harry.  .  .  .  There 
was  also  an  ancient  play  called  'The  Holy  Martyr  St. 
George,'  which,  sadly  degenerated  in  modern  times,  used 
to  be  played  by  rustics  as  a  piece  of  coarse  buffoonery." 

The  "  Riding  of  Saint  George "  was  forbidden  by 
Henry  VIII. ,  but  the  custom  was  nevertheless  kept 
up  in  out-of-the-way  places  even  after  Edward  VI.  had 
made  more  stringent  laws  against  it. 

It  appears  from  the  ancient  records  of  the  Guild  that 
Stratford  was  one  of  the  very  last  places  in  which  the 
celebration  was  finally  suppressed.  Shakespeare  in  his 
boyhood  doubtless  saw  it  carried  out  with  all  its  an- 
tique splendor.  Mr.  Wall  gives  the  following  descrip- 
tion of  the  festival : — 

"  How  great  would  be  the  preparations  !    Old  arms 


170  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

and  armor  from  the  Guild's  collection  would  be  bur- 
nished up  to  be  used  by  the  town  watch  and  the  arch- 
ers. All  sorts  of  choice  dishes  and  rare  wines  would 
be  in  demand  for  mighty  feasting.  The  suit  of  white 
armor,  of  an  antique  pattern,  which  hung  above  the 
altar  of  Saint  George,  would  be  taken  down  and  cleaned 
with  reverential  care,  and  from  all  the  surrounding 
towns  and  villages,  castles  and  mansions,  guests  would 
come  flocking  in,  day  after  day,  filling  the  numerous 
inns  to  overflowing. 

"  On  the  day,  gravel  would  be  spread  along  the  pro- 
cession's route,  and  barricades  erected  ;  house  fronts 
would  be  adorned  with  plants  and  tapestry.  Chambers 
(small  cannon)  would  be  fired  at  daybreak,  and  great 
shouts  of  '  Saint  George !'  would  drown  the  echoes  of 
their  explosions.  The  Master  of  the  Guild,  its  school- 
master (a  truly  learned  man),  with  the  monitors  and 
scholars  of  the  Grammar  School  in  their  long  blue 
gowns  and  flat  caps,  with  the  priests  of  the  Guild 
Chapel,  would  all  walk  in  the  procession,  with  their 
Guild  brothers  and  sisters,  with  representatives  of  the 
trades  practised  in  the  town,  and  even  with  the  old 
Almshouse  people,  smiling  and  chattering  and  wagging 
their  ancient  heads.  Nobody  would  be  forgotten  who 
had  a  fair  claim  to  be  conspicuously  remembered  then. 
The  *  Bedals '  would  be  there  of  course  in  all  their 
native  dignity,  solemn  and  severe.  The  town  'waits' 
would  'discourse  most  excellent  music'  with  drums 
and  fifes  and  other  cheek-distending  wind-instruments. 
The  bells  in  the  church  and  chapel  tower  would  be 
ringing  out  right  jovial  peals.  Then  would  come  the 
town  trumpeters  marching  before  the  High  Bailiff, 
Aldermen,  and  Chamberlains,  with  their  long  furred 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  171 

scarlet  robes,  their  chains  of  office,  and  the  newly- 
gilded  maces  borne  before  them. 

"  Then,  riding  on  horseback,  his  armor  and  drawn 
sword  flashing  back  the  rays  of  a  fitful  sun,  would  be 
seen  the  living  representative  of  Saint  George,  with  his 
great  white  plume  floating  from  his  white  helm,  as  the 
soft,  sweet,  playing  wind  tossed  it  to  and  fro.  Behind 
him,  creating  as  he  came  such  a  roar  of  honest  irre- 
pressible laughter  as  would  have  done  your  heart  good 
to  hear,  would  waddle  the  dragon  (oh  !  such  a  dragon  !) 
a  *  property'  one,  with  two  boys  inside  it,  led  in  chains, 
with  the  spear  of  Saint  George  down  its  throat.  And 
then  the  vicar,  his  curates,  and  the  gentry,  in  all  the 
grandeur  of  silk  and  satin  lace  and  spangles,  would  do 
the  *  Riding '  honor,  with  gold  and  silver  chains  about 
their  necks,  spurs  at  their  heels,  and  swords  by  their 
sides,  the  Lord  and  Lady  of  the  Manor  riding  before 
them.  And  these  last-named  were  indeed  dignitaries 
of  great  consequence,  being,  you  must  know,  no  lesser 
personages  than  Ambrose  Dudley,  'the  Good  Earl' 
and  his  good  lady,  patrons  of  learning  and  rewarders 
of  virtue,  from  their  great  castle  at  Warwick. 

"  But  there  is  one  feature  of  the  Riding  which  must 
not  on  any  account  be  forgotten.  This  was  the  Egyp- 
tian Princess,  personated  by  the  prettiest  girl  in  Strat- 
ford (where  pretty  girls  were  always  found,  and  are  still 
not  few).  She  came  on  a  raised  wheeled  platform  with 
a  golden  crown  upon  her  head  (made  of  gilded  paste- 
board), and  by  her  side  a  pretty  pet  lamb,  garlanded 
with  the  earliest  flowers  of  the  spring,  blushing  (she, 
not  the  lamb)  and  smiling,  and  looking  down  very 
charming — as  I  tenderly  imagine. 

"And  all  the  time  they  were  passing,  the  bells  would 


172  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

ring  out  right  merrily,  and  the  people  shout  most 
lustily ;  and  from  every  throat,  blending  thunderously, 
would  come  the  cry,  the  cry  that  England's  foes  had 
trembled  at  in  many  a  desperate  fight :  '  Saint  George 
for  England,  Saint  George  for  Merry  England  !' 

"It  was  customary  to  announce  this  Riding  by  sound 
of  trumpet  from  the  Market  Cross  some  time  before  it 
took  place.  And  so  I  can  fancy  John  Shakespeare, 
the  glover,  with  all  his  clever  work-people,  men  and 
women,  artists  and  mechanics,  joining  the  crowd  that 
listens  to  the  town  trumpeter's  loud-ringing  voice  here 
at  the  Cross,  and  opposite  the  Cage,  where  once  lived 
Judith  Shakespeare.  By  John,  stands— in  my  fancy — 
Mary,  his  wife,  with  little  Willie  holding  tightly  to  her 
hand,  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement;  and  almost 
before  the  crier  has  spoken  his  lines  this  laughing  little 
fellow,  who  has  been  looking  on  with  such  wide-open 
wondering  brown  eyes,  is  suddenly  lifted  into  the  air 
and  from  above  his  father's  head  cries,  in  his  child- 
ishly treble  voice,  *  Saint  George  for  England !'  for 
his  mother  had  said,  *  'T  is  his  right  to  lead  the 
shouting  here  to-day,  dear  neighbors  all,  for  on  Saint 
George's  day  my  boy  was  born.'  " 

EASTER. 

The  festival  of  Easter  would  generally  come  before 
Saint  George's  day.  When  Shakespeare  was  a  boy  the 
Reformation  had  somewhat  mitigated  the  ancient  rigor 
and  austerity  of  Lent,  but  Easter  was  none  the  less  a 
joyous  and  jubilant  anniversary. 

"Surely,"  as  Mr.  Charles  Knight  remarks,  "there 
was  something  exquisitely  beautiful  in  the  old  custom 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  173 

of  going  forth  into  the  fields  befo're  the  sun  had  risen 
on  Easter-day,  to  see  him  mounting  over  the  hills  with 
a  tremulous  motion,  as  if  it  were  an  animate  thing 
bounding  in  sympathy  with  the  redeemed  of  mankind. 
The  young  poet  [Shakespeare]  might  have  joined  his 
simple  neighbors  on  this  cheerful  morning,  and  yet 
have  thought  with  Sir  Thomas  Browne, '  We  shall  not, 
I  hope,  disparage  the  Resurrection  of  our  Redeemer  if 
we  say  that  the  sun  doth  not  dance  on  Easter-day.' 
But  one  of  the  most  glorious  images  of  one  of  his  early 
plays  \Romeo  and  Juliet\  has  given  life  and  movement 
to  the  sun  : — 

"'Night's  candles  are  burnt  out,  and  jocund  Day 
Stands  tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain's  tops.' 

Saw  he  not  the  sun  dance— heard  he  not  the  expres- 
sion of  the  undoubting  belief  that  the  sun  danced — as 
he  went  forth  into  Stratford  meadows  'in  the  early  twi- 
light of  Easter-day  ?" 

Sir  John  Suckling,  in  his  Ballad  upon  a  Wedding, 
alludes  prettily  to  this  old  superstition  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  bride  : — 

"  But  O  she  dances  such  a  way ! 
No  sun  upon  an  Easter  day 
Is  half  so  fine  a  sight." 

Perhaps  Shakespeare  had  this  bit  of  folk-lore  in 
mind  when  he  wrote  these  lines  in  Coriolanus  (v. 

4-  52)  '— 

"The  trumpets,  sackbuts,  psalteries  and  fifes, 
Tabors  and  cymbals  and  the  shouting  Romans, 
Make  the  sun  dance." 


174  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

Easter  was  a  favorite  time  for  games  of  ball  and 
many  of  the  athletic  sports  described  in  the  preceding 
pages. 

THE    PERAMBULATION    OF    THE    PARISH. 

On  the  road  to  Henley-in-Arden,  a  few  hundred 
yards  from  John  Shakespeare's  house  in  Henley  Street, 
there  stood  until  about  fifty  years  ago  an  ancient  boun- 
dary-tree— an  elm  to  which  reference  is  made  in  rec- 
ords of  the  i6th  century.  From  that  point  the  boun- 
dary of  the  borough  continued  to  "the  two  elms  in 
Evesham  highway "  ;  and  so  on,  from  point  to  point, 
round  to  the  tree  first  mentioned.  Once  a  year,  in  Ro- 
gation Week  (six  weeks  after  Easter),  the  clergy,  the 
magistrates  and  public  officers,  and  the  inhabitants,  in- 
cluding the  boys  of  the  Grammar  School,  assembled 
under  this  elm  for  the  perambulation  of  the  boundaries. 
They  marched  in  procession,  with  waving  banners  and 
poles  crowned  with  garlands,  over  the  entire  circuit  of 
the  parish  limits.  Under  each  "gospel-tree,"  as  at  the 
first  boundary  elm,  a  passage  from  Scripture  was  read, 
a  collect  recited,  and  a  psalm  sung. 

These  parochial  processions  were  kept  up  after  the 
Reformation.  In  1575  a  form  of  devotion  for  the  "Ro- 
gation Days  of  Procession  "  was  prescribed,  "  without 
addition  of  any  superstitious  ceremonies  heretofore 
used  ";  and  it  was  subsequently  ordered  that  the  cu- 
rate on  such  occasions  "  shall  admonish  the  people  to 
give  thanks  to  God  in  the  beholding  of  God's  bene- 
fits," and  enforce  the  scriptural  denunciations  against 
those  who  remove  their  neighbors'  landmarks.  Izaak 
Walton  tells  how  the  pious  Hooker  encouraged  these 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  175 

annual  ceremonies  :  "  He  would  by  no  means  omit  the 
customary  time  of  procession,  persuading  all,  both  rich 
and  poor,  if  they  desired  the  preservation  of  love  and 
their  parish  rights  and  liberties,  to  accompany  him  in 
his  perambulation ;  and  most  did  so  :  in  which  peram- 
bulation he  would  usually  express  more  pleasant  dis- 
course than  at  other  times,  and  would  then  always  drop 
some  loving  and  facetious  observations,  to  be  remem- 
bered against  the  next  year,  especially  by  the  boys  and 
young  people ;  still  inclining  them,  and  all  his  present 
parishioners,  to  meekness  and  mutual  kindnesses  and 
love,  because  Ipve  thinks  not  evil,  but  covers  a  multi- 
tude of  infirmities." 

"And  so,"  remarks  Mr.  Knight,  after  quoting  this 
passage,  "listening  to  the  gentle  words  of  some  ven- 
erable Hooker  of  his  time,  would  the  young  Shake- 
speare walk  the  bounds  of  his  native  parish.  One  day 
would  not  suffice  to  visit  its  numerous  gospel -trees. 
Hours  would  be  spent  in  reconciling  differences  among 
the  cultivators  of  the  common  fields ;  in  largesses  to 
the  poor;  in  merry-making  at  convenient  halting- 
places.  A  wide  parish  is  this  of  Stratford,  including 
eleven  villages  and  hamlets.  A  district  of  beautiful 
and  varied  scenery  is  this  parish— hill  and  valley,  wood 
and  water.  .  .  .  For  nearly  three  miles  from  Welcombe 
Greenhill  the  boundary  lies  along  a  wooded  ridge, 
opening  prospects  of  surpassing  beauty.  There  may 
the  distant  spires  of  Coventry  be  seen  peeping  above 
the  intermediate  hills,  and  the  nearer  towers  of  War- 
wick lying  cradled  in  their  surrounding  woods.  .  .  . 
At  the  northern  extremity  of  the  high  land,  which  prin- 
cipally belongs  to  the  estate  of  Clopton,  and  which  was 
doubtless  a  park  in  early  times,  we  have  a  panoramic 


ij6  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

view  of  the  valley  in  which  Stratford  lies,  with  its 
hamlets  of  Bishopton,  Little  Wilmecote,  Shottery,  and 
Drayton.  As  the  marvellous  boy  of  the  Stratford 
Grammar  School  then  looked  upon  that  plain,  how 
little  could  he  have  foreseen  the  course  of  his  future 
life  !  For  twenty  years  of  his  manhood  he  was  to  have 
no  constant  dwelling-place  in  that  his  native  town ;  but 
it  was  to  be  the  home  of  his  affections.  He  would  be 
gathering  fame  and  opulence  in  an  almost  untrodden 
path,  of  which  his  young  ambition  could  shape  no  defi- 
nite image;  but  in  the  prime  of  his  life  he  was  to 
bring  his  wealth  to  his  own  Stratford,  and  become  the 
proprietor  and  the  contented  cultivator  of  the  loved 
fields  that  he  now  saw  mapped  out  at  his  feet.  Then, 
a  little  while,  and  an  early  tomb  under  that  grey  tower 
— a  tomb  so  to  be  honored  in  all  ages  to  come 

"  'That  kings  for  such  a  tomb  would  wish  to  die.'  " 

MAY-DAY   AND    THE    MORRIS- DANCE. 

The  first  of  May  was  in  the  olden  time  one  of 
the  most  delightful  of  holidays ;  but  its  harmless 
sports  were  an  abomination  in  the  eyes  of  the  Puri- 
tans. Philip  Stubbes,  in  his  Anatomie  of  Abuses  (1583) 
says:  "Against  May,  every  parish,  town,  and  village 
assemble  themselves  together,  both  men,  women,  and 
children,  old  and  young,  even  all  indifferently :  and 
either  going  all  together,  or  dividing  themselves  into 
companies,  they  go,  some  to  the  woods  and  groves, 
some  to  the  hills  and  mountains,  some  to  one  place, 
some  to  another,  where  they  spend  all  the  night  in 
pastimes ;  and  in  the  morning  they  return,  bringing 
with  them  birch  boughs  and  branches  of  trees  to  deck 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  177 

their  assemblies  withal.  .  .  .  But  their  chiefest  jewel 
they  bring  from  thence  is  their  May  pole,  which  they 
bring  home  with  great  veneration,  as  thus:  —  They 
have  twenty  or  forty  yoke  of  oxen,  every  ox  having  a 
sweet  nosegay  of  flowers  tied  on  the  tip  of  his  horns, 
and  these  oxen  draw  home  this  May  pole,  which  is 
covered  all  over  with  flowers  and  herbs,  bound  round 
about  with  strings,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom,  and 
sometime  painted  with  variable  colors,  with  two  or 
three  hundred  men,  women,  and  children  following  it, 
with  great  devotion.  And  thus  being  reared  up,  with 
handkerchiefs  and  flags  streaming  on  the  top,  they 
strew  the  ground  about,  bind  green  boughs  about  it, 
set  up  summer  halls,  bowers,  and  arbors  hard  by  it. 
And  then  fall  they  to  banquet  and  feast,  to  leap  and 
dance  about  it,  as  the  heathen  people  did  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  their  idols,  whereof  this  is  a  perfect  pattern, 
or  rather  the  thing  itself." 

Milton,  though  a  Puritan,  writes  in  a  different  vein 
in  his  Song  on  May  Morning : — 

"  Now  the  bright  morning-star,  day's  harbinger, 
Comes  dancing  from  the  East,  and  leads  with  her 
The  flowery  May,  who  from  her  green  lap  throws 
The  yellow  cowslip  and  the  pale  primrose. 

Hail,  bounteous  May,  that  dost  inspire 

Mirth  and  youth  and  warm  desire! 

Woods  and  groves  are  of  thy  dressing, 

Hill  and  dale  doth  boast  thy  blessing. 
Thus  we  salute  thee  with  our  early  song, 
And  welcome  thee,  and  wish  thee  long." 

Kings  and  queens  did  not  disdain  to  join  in  these 
rural  sports.     Henry  VIII.  and  Queen  Katherine  en- 


178  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

joyed  them ;  and  he,  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  rose 
on  May  Day  very  early  and  went  with  his  courtiers  to 
the  wood  to  "fetch  May,"  or  green  boughs.  In  the 
Midsummer- Nigh f  s  Dream  (iv.  i.)  Theseus,  Hippolyta, 
and  their  train  are  in  the  wood  in  "  the  vaward  of  the 
day,"  and  find  the  pairs  of  lovers  sleeping  under  the 
influence  of  Puck's  magic  ;  and  Theseus  says : — 

"  No  doubt  they  rose  up  early  to  observe 
The  rite  of  May,  and,  hearing  our  intent, 
Came  here  in  grace  of  our  solemnity." 

The  boys  and  girls,  as  the  sour  Stubbes  has  told  us, 
were  not  slack  to  observe  this  rite  of  May.  In  a  man- 
uscript in  the  British  Museum,  entitled  The  State  of 
Eton  School,  and  dated  1560,  we  read  that  "on  the  day 
of  Saint  Philip  and  Saint  James  [May  ist],  if  it  be  fair 
weather,  and  the  master  grants  leave,  those  boys  who 
choose  it  may  rise  at  four  o'clock,  to  gather  May 
branches,  if  they  can  do  it  without  wetting  their  feet: 
and  that  on  that  day  they  adorn  the  windows  of  the 
bedchamber  with  green  leaves,  and  the  houses  are  per- 
fumed with  fragrant  herbs." 

The  May-pole  was  often  kept  standing  from  year  to 
year  on  the  village  green  or  in  some  public  place  in 
town  or  city,  and  in  such  cases  was  usually  painted 
with  various  colors.  One  described 'by  Toilet  was 
"painted  yellow  and  black  in  spiral  lines."  In  the 
Midsummer- Night's  Dream  (iii.  2.  296),  Hermia  sneers 
at  the  taller  Helena  as  a  "painted  May-pole." 

In  Henry  VIII.  (v.  4.  15)  when  the  Porter  is  angry 
at  the  crowds  that  have  made  their  way  into  the  palace 
yard,  and  calls  for  "  a  dozen  crab-tree  staves  "  to  drive 
them  out,  a  man  says  to  him : — 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  179 

"  Pray,  sir,  be  patient :  't  is  as  much  impossible — 
Unless  we  sweep  'em  from  the  door  with  cannons — 
To  scatter  'em,  as  't  is  to  make  'em  sleep 
On  May-day  morning;  which  will  never  be." 

Of  course  the  day  was  a  holiday  in  the  Stratford 
school,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  William  made  the 
most  of  it. 

An  important  feature  in  the  May -day  games  in 
Shakespeare's  time  was  the  Morris-Dance,  in  which  a 
group  of  characters  associated  with  the  stories  of  Rob- 
in Hood  were  the  chief  actors.  These  were  Robin 
himself;  his  faithful  companion,  Little  John;  Friar 
Tuck,  to  whom  Drayton  alludes  as 

"  Tuck  the  merry  friar  which  many  a  sermon  made 
In  praise  of  Robin  Hood,  his  outlaws  and  their  trade;" 


Maid  Marian,  the  mistress  of  Robin  ;  the  Fool,  who 
was  like  the  domestic  buffoon  of  the  time,  with  motley 
dress,  the  cap  and  bells,  and  additional  bells  tied  to  his 
arms  and  ankles;  the  Piper,  sometimes  called  Tom  Pi- 
per, the  musician  of  the  troop;  and  the  Hobby-horse, 
represented  by  a  man  equipped  with  a  pasteboard  frame 
forming  the  head  and  hinder  parts  of  a  horse,  with  a 
long  mantle  or  footcloth  reaching  nearly  to  the  ground, 
to  hide  the  man's  legs ;  and  the  Dragon,  another  paste- 
board device,  much  like  the  one  in  the  Riding  of  Saint 
George  described  above  (page  169).  In  addition  to 
these  characters  there  were  a  number  of  common  dan- 
cers, in  fantastic  costume,  with  bells  about  their  feet. 

The   forms    and    number   of   the    characters  varied 
much  with  time  and  place.      Sometimes  only  one  or 


iSo  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

two  of  those  just  mentioned  were  introduced  in  the 
dance,  and  sometimes  others  were  added. 

During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  the  Puritans,  by  their 
sermons  and  invectives,  did  much  to  interfere  with 
this  feature  of  the  May-day  games.  Friar  Tuck  was 
deemed  a  remnant  of  Popery,  and  the  Hobby-horse  an 
impious  superstition.  The  opposition  to  them  became 
so  bitter  that  they  were  generally  omitted  from  the 
sport.  Allusions  to  the  omission  of  the  Hobby-horse 
are  frequent  in  the  plays  of  the  time ;  as  in  Loves  La- 
bour 's  Lost  (iii.  i.  30):  "The  hobby-horse  is  forgot;" 
and  Hamlet  (iii.  2.  142):  "or  else  he  shall  suffer  not 
thinking  on,  with  the  hobby-horse,  whose  epitaph  is, 
'For,  O,  for,  O,  the  hobby-horse  is  forgot.'"  This 
"epitaph  "  (which  is  also  referred  to  in  Loves  Labour  's 
Lost)  appears  to  be  a  quotation  from  some  popular 
song  of  the  time.  So  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's 
Women  Pleased  (iv.  i.)  we  find:  "Shall  the  hobby- 
horse be  forgot  then  ?"  and  in  Ben  Jonson's  Entertain- 
ment at  Althorp :  "  But  see,  the  hobby-horse  is  forgot." 

Friar  Tuck  is  alluded  to  by  Shakespeare  in  The  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona  (iv.  i.  36),  where  one  of  the  Out- 
laws who  have  seized  Valentine  exclaims  : — 

"  By  the  bare  scalp  of  Robin  Hood's  fat  friar, 
This  fellow  were  a  king  for  our  wild  faction!" 

That  he  kept  his  place  in  the  morris-dance  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth  is  evident  from  Warner's  Albion's  Eng- 
land, published  in  1586:  "  Tho'  Robin  Hood,  little 
John,  friar  Tuck,  and  Marian  deftly  play  " ;  but  he  is 
not  heard  of  afterwards.  In  Ben  Jonson's  Masque  of 
the  Gipsies,  written  about  1620,  the  Clown  notes  his  ab- 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  181 

sence  from  the  dance  :  "  There  is  no  Maid  Marian  nor 
Friar  amongst  them." 

Maid  Marian  also  officiated  as  the  Queen  or  Lady  of 
the  May,  who  had  figured  in  the  May-day  festivities 
long  before  Robin  Hood  was  introduced  into  them. 
She  was  probably  at  first  the  representative  of  the  god- 
dess Flora  in  the  ancient  Roman  festival  celebrated  at 
the  same  season  of  the  year. 

Maid  Marian  was  sometimes  personated  by  a  young 
woman,  but  oftener  by  a  boy  or  young  man  in  feminine 
dress.  Later,  when  the  morris-dance  had  degenerated 
into  coarse  foolery,  the  part  was  taken  by  a  clown. 
In  i  Henry  IV.  (iii.  3.  129),  Falstaff  refers  contemptu- 
ously to  "  Maid  Marian  "  as  a  low  character,  which  she 
had  doubtless  become  by  the  time  (1596  or  1597)  when 
that  play  was  written. 

The  connection  of  the  morris-dance  with  May-day  is 
alluded  to  in  All  V  Well  that  Ends  Well  (ii.  2.  25)  :  "  as 
fit  ...  as  a  morris  for  May-day  ";  but  it  came  to  be 
a  feature  of  many  other  holidays  and  festivals,  and 
was  often  one  of  the  sports  introduced  to  amuse  the 
crowd  at  fairs  and  similar  gatherings. 

Mr.  Knight  gives  us  this  fancy  picture  of  the  May- 
day games  as  they  probably  were  in  Shakespeare's 
boyhood  :  — 

"  An  impatient  group  is  gathered  under  the  shade  of 
the  old  elms,  for  the  morning  sun  casts  his  slanting 
beams  dazzlingly  across  the  green.  There  is  the  distant 
sound  of  tabor  and  bagpipe: — 

"  '  Hark,  hark  !     I  hear  the  dancing, 
And  a  nimble  morris  prancing; 


1 82  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

The  bagpipe  and  the  morris  bells 
That  they  are  not  far  hence  us  tells.' 

From  out  of  the  leafy  Arden  are  they  bringing  in  the 
May-pole.  The  oxen  move  slowly  with  the  ponderous 
wain;  they  are  garlanded,  but  not  for  the  sacrifice. 
Around  the  spoil  of  the  forest  are  the  pipers  and  the 
dancers — maidens  in  blue  kirtles,  and  foresters  in  green 
tunics.  Amidst  the  shouts  of  young  and  old,  childhood 
leaping  and  clapping  its  hands,  is  the  May-pole  raised. 
But  there  are  great  personages  forthcoming  —  not  so 
great,  however,  as  in  more  ancient  times.  There  are 
Robin  Hood  and  Little  John,  in  their  grass-green  tunics; 
but  their  bows  and  their  sheaves  of  arrows  are  more  for 
show  than  use.  Maid  Marian  is  there  ;  but  she  is  a  mock- 
ery—a smooth-faced  youth  in  a  watchet-colored  tunic, 
with  flowers  and  coronets,  and  a  mincing  gait,  but  not  the 
shepherdess  who 

"  '  with  garlands  gay 
Was  made  the  Lady  of  the  May.' 

There  is  farce  amidst  the  pastoral.  The  age  of  unreali- 
ties has  already  in  part  arrived.  Even  among  country- 
folk there  is  burlesque.  There  is  personation,  with  a 
laugh  at  the  things  that  are  represented.  The  Hobby- 
horse and  the  Dragon,  however,  produce  their  shouts  of 
merriment.  But  the  hearty  morris-dancers  soon  spread  a 
spirit  of  genial  mirth  among  all  the  spectators.  The 
clownish  Maid  Marian  will  now  'caper  upright  like  a  wild 
Morisco.'  Friar  Tuck  sneaks  away  from  his  ancient  com- 
panions to  join  hands  with  some  undisguised  maiden; 
the  Hobby-horse  gets  rid  of  pasteboard  and  his  foot- 
cloth  ;  and  the  Dragon  quietly  deposits  his  neck  and  tail 
for  another  season.  Something  like  the  genial  chorus  of 
Summer 's  Last  Will  and  Testament  is  rung  out : — 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  183 

" '  Trip  and  go,  heave  and  ho, 
Up  and  down,  to  and  fro, 
From  the  town  to  the  grove, 
Two  and  two,  let  us  rove, 
A-Maying,  a-playing; 
Love  hath  no  gainsaying, 
So  merrily  trip  and  go.' 

"  The  early-rising  moon  still  sees  the  villagers  on  that 
green  of  Shottery.  The  Piper  leans  against  the  May- 
pole ;  the  featliest  of  dancers  still  swim  to  the  music : — 

"  '  So  have  I  seen 

Tom  Piper  stand  upon  our  village-green, 
Backed  with  the  May-pole,  whilst  a  jocund  crew 
In  gentle  motion  circularly  threw 
Themselves  around  him.' 

The  same  beautiful  writer — one  of  the  last  of  our  golden 
age  of  poetry — has  described  the  parting  gifts  bestowed 
upon  the  '  merry  youngsters  '  by 

"  '  the  Lady  of  the  May 
Set  in  an  arbor  (on  a  holiday) 
Built  by  the  May-pole,  where  the  jocund  swains 
Dance  with  the  maidens  to  the  bagpipe's  strains, 
When  envious  night  commands  them  to  be  gone.' " 

These  latter  quotations  are  from  William  Browne's 
Britannia's  Pastorals  (book  ii.  published  in  1616),  and 
the  poet  goes  on  to  tell  how  the  Lady 

"  Calls  for  the  merry  youngsters  one  by  one, 
And,  for  their  well  performance,  soon  disposes 
To  this  a  garland  interwove  with  roses ; 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

To  that  a  carved  hook  or  well-wrought  scrip; 

Gracing  another  with  her  cherry  lip ; 

To  one  her  garter ;  to  another  then 

A  handkerchief  cast  o'er  and  o'er  again: 

And  none  returneth  empty  that  hath  spent 

His  pains  to  fill  their  rural  merriment." 


WHITSUNTIDE. 

Whitsuntide,  the  senson  of  Pentecost,  or  the  week 
following  Whitsunday  (the  seventh  Sunday  after  East- 
er), was  another  period  of  festivity  in  old  English  times. 

The  morris-dance  was  commonly  one  of  its  features, 
as  of  the  May-day  sports.  In  Henry  V.  (ii.  4.  25)  the 
Dauphin  alludes  to  it: — 

"  '  I  say  't  is  meet  we  all  go  forth 
To  view  the  sick  and  feeble  parts  of  France ; 
And  let  us  do  it  with  no  show  of  fear, 
No,  with  no  more  than  if  we  heard  that  England 
Were  busied  with  a  Whitsun  morris-dance." 

Another  custom  connected  with  the  festival  was  the 
"  Whitsun-ale."  Ale  was  so  common  a  drink  in  Eng- 
land that  it  became  a  part  of  the  name  of  various  fes- 
tal meetings.  A  "  leet-ale  "  was  a  feast  at  the  holding 
of  a  court-leet;  a  ''lamb-ale"  was  a  sheep-shearing 
merry-making;  a  "bride-ale"  was  a  bridal,  as  we  now 
call  it — always  a  festive  occasion  ;  and  a  "church-ale" 
was  connected  with  some  ecclesiastical  holiday. 

John  Aubrey,  the  eminent  antiquary,  writing  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  iyth  century,  says  that  in  his  grand- 
father's days  the  church-ale  at  Whitsuntide  furnished 
all  the  money  needed  for  the  relief  of  the  parish  poor. 


SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY  185 

He  adds :  "  In  every  parish  is,  or  was,  a  church-house, 
to  which  belonged  spits,  crocks,  etc.,  utensils  for  dress- 
ing provision.  Here  the  housekeepers  met  and  were 
merry,  and  gave  their  charity.  The  young  people  were 
there  too,  and  had  dancing,  bowling,  shooting  at  butts, 
without  scandal." 

The  Puritan  Stubbes,  in  the  book  before  quoted 
(page  176,  above),  took  a  different  view  of  these  social 
gatherings.  He  says:  "  In  certain  towns,  where  drunk- 
en Bacchus  bears  sway,  against  Christmas  and  Easter, 
Whitsuntide,  or  some  other  time,  the  churchwardens  of 
every  parish,  with  the  consent  of  the  whole  parish,  pro- 
vide half  a  score  or  twenty  quarters  of  malt,  whereof 
some  they  buy  of  the  church  stock,  and  some  is  given 
them  of  the  parishioners  themselves,  every  one  con- 
ferring somewhat,  according  to  his  ability;  which  malt, 
being  made  into  very  strong  ale  or  beer,  is  set  to  sale, 
either  in  the  church  or  some  other  place  assigned  to 
that  purpose.  Then  when  this  is  set  abroach,  well  is 
he  that  can  get  the  soonest  to  it,  and  spend  the  most 
at  it." 

Old  parish  records  show  that  considerable  money 
was  obtained  at  these  festivals,  not  only  by  the  sale  of 
ale  and  food,  but  from  the  charges  made  for  certain 
games,  among  which  "riffeling"  (raffling)  is  included. 
Neighboring  parishes  often  united  in  these  church  pic- 
nics, as  they  might  be  called.  Richard  Carew,  in  his 
Survey  of  Cornwall  (1602),  says :  "The  neighboring 
parishes  at  these  times  lovingly  visit  one  another,  and 
this  way  frankly  spend  their  money  together." 

Whitsuntide  was  also  a  favorite  time  for  theatrical 
performances.  Long  before  Shakespeare's  day  the 
miracle-plays  and  moralities  had  been  popular  at  this 


1 86  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

season;  and  these,  as  we  have  seen  (page  17),  were 
still  kept  up  when  he  was  a  boy,  together  with  "  pasto- 
rals "  and  other  "  pageants  "  such  as  Perdita  alludes  to 
in  The  Winter  s  Tale  (iv.  4.  134)  : — 

"  Come,  take  your  flowers : 
Methinks  I  play  as  I  have  seen  them  do 
In  Whitsun  pastorals;" 

and  such  as  the  disguised  Julia  describes  in  The  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona  (iv.  4.  163) : — 

"At  Pentecost, 

When  all  our  pageants  of  delight  were  play'd, 
Our  youth  got  me  to  play  the  woman's  part, 
And  I  was  trimm'd  in  Madam  Julia's  gown, 
Which  served  me  as  fit,  by  all  men's  judgments, 
As  if  the  garment  had  been  made  for  me; 
Therefore,  I  know  she  is  about  my  height. 
And  at  that  time  I  made  her  weep  a-good, 
For  I  did  play  a  lamentable  part. 
Madam,  't  was  Ariadne,  passioning 
For  Theseus'  perjury  and  unjust  flight, 
Which  I  so  lively  acted  with  my  tears 
That  my  poor  mistress,  moved  therewithal, 
Wept  bitterly  ;  and  would  I  might  be  dead 
If  I  in  thought  felt  not  her  very  sorrow!" 

This  is  in  one  of  the  earliest  of  his  plays,  and  may  be 
a  reminiscence  of  some  simple  attempt  at  dramatic 
representation  which  he  had  seen  at  Stratford. 


MIDSUMMER    EVE. 

The  Vigil  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  or  the  evening 
before  the  day  (June  24)  dedicated  to  that  Saint,  was 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY.  187 

commonly  called  Midsummer  Eve,  and  was  observed 
with  curious  ceremonies  in  all  parts  of  England.  On 
that  evening  the  people  used  to  go  into  the  woods  and 
break  down  branches  of  trees,  which  they  brought 
home  and  fixed  over  their  doors  with  great  demonstra- 
tions of  joy.  This  was  originally  done  to  make  good 
the  Scripture  prophecy  concerning  the  Baptist,  that 
many  should  rejoice  in  his  birth. 

It  was  also  customary  on  this  occasion  for  old  and 
young,  of  both  sexes,  to  make  merry  about  a  large  bon- 
fire made  in  the  street  or  some  open  place.  They 
danced  around  it,  and  the  young  men  and  boys  leaped 
over  it,  not  to  show  their  agility,  but  in  compliance 
with  an  ancient  custom.  These  diversions  they  kept 
up  till  midnight,  and  sometimes  later. 

According  to  some  old  writers  these  fires  were  made 
because  the  Saint  was  said  in  Holy  Writ  to  be  "a 
shining  light."  Others,  while  not  denying  this,  add- 
ed that  the  fires  served  to  drive  away  the  dragons 
and  evil  spirits  hovering  in  the  air ;  and  one  asserts 
that  in  some  countries  bones  were  burnt  in  this  "bone- 
fire,"  or  bonfire,  "for  the  dragons  hated  nothing  more 
than  the  stench  of  burning  bones." 

In  the  Ordinary  of  the  Company  of  Cooks  at  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne,  1575,  we  read  among  other  regula- 
tions :  "  And  also  that  the  said  Fellowship  of  Cooks 
shall  yearly  of  their  own  cost  and  charge  maintain  and 
keep  the  bone-fires,  according  to  the  ancient  custom  of 
the  town  on  the  Sand-hill ;  that  is  to  say,  one  bone-fire 
on  the  Even  of  the  Feast  of  the  Nativity  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  commonly  called  Midsummer  Even,  and 
the  other  on  the  Even  of  the  Feast  of  St.  Peter  the 
Apostle,  if  it  shall  please  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of 


188  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

the  town  for  the  time  being  to  have  the  same  bone- 
fires." 

In  a  manuscript  record  of  the  expenses  of  the  royal 
household  for  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
(1513),  under  date  of  July  ist  is  the  entry:  "Item,  to 
the  pages  of  the  hall,  for  making  of  the  King's  bone- 
fire  upon  Midsummer  Eve,  xs." 

There  were  many  popular  superstitions  connected 
with  Midsummer  Eve.  It  was  believed  that  if  any  one 
sat  up  fasting  all  night  in  the  church  porch,  he  would 
see  the  spirits  of  those  who  were  to  die  in  the  parish 
during  the  ensuing  twelve  months  come  and  knock 
at  the  church  door,  in  the  order  in  which  they  were 
to  die. 

It  was  customary  on  this  evening  to  gather  certain 
plants  which  were  supposed  to  have  magical  properties. 
Fern-seed,  for  instance,  being  on  the  back  of  the  leaf 
and  in  some  species  hardly  discernible,  was  thought  to 
have  the  power  of  rendering  the  possessor  invisible,  if 
it  was  gathered  at  this  time.  In  some  places  it  was 
believed  that  the  seed  must  be  got  at  midnight  by 
letting  it  fall  into  a  plate  without  touching  the  plant. 

We  find  many  allusions  to  fern-seed  in  Elizabethan 
writers.  In  i  Henry  IV.  (ii.  i.  95)  Gadshill  says:  "We 
steal  as  in  a  castle,  cock-sure  ;  we  have  the  receipt  of 
fern-seed,,  we  walk  invisible'';  to  which  the  Chamber- 
lain replies :  "  Nay,  by  my  faith,  I  think  ye  are  more 
beholding  to  the  night  than  to  fern-seed  for  your  walk- 
ing invisible."  In  Ben  Jonson's  New  Inn  (i.  i)  one  of 
the  characters  says  :— 

"I  had 

No  medicine,  sir,  to  go  invisible, 
No  fern-seed  in  my  pocket." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  189 

In  Plaine  Percevall,  a  tract  of  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  we 
read :  "  I  think  the  mad  slave  hath  tasted  on  a  fern- 
stalk,  that  he  walks  so  invisible." 

Scot,  in  \i\sDiscoverie  of  Witchcraft  (1584),  directs  us, 
as  protection  against  witches,  to  "  hang  boughs  (hal- 
lowed on  Midsummer  Day)  at  the  stall  door  where  the 
cattle  stand." 

St.  John's  wort,  vervain,  orpine,  and  rue  were 
among  the  plants  gathered  on  Midsummer  Eve  on  ac- 
count of  their  supernatural  virtue.  Each  was  supposed 
to  have  its  peculiar  use  in  popular  magic.  Orpine,  for 
instance,  was  set  in  clay  upon  pieces  of  slate,  and 
called  a  "  Midsummer  man."  According  as  the  stalk 
was  found  next  morning  to  incline  to  the  right  or  the 
left,  the  anxious  maiden  knew  whether  her  lover  would 
prove  true  to  her  or  not.  Young  women  also  sought 
at  this  time  for  what  they  called  pieces  of  coal,  but  in 
reality  hard,  black,  dead  roots,  often  found  under  the 
living  mugwort ;  and  these  they  put  under  their  pillows 
that  they  might  dream  of  their  lovers.  Lupton,  in  his 
Notable  Things  (1586),  says:  "It  is  certainly  and  con- 
stantly affirmed  that  on  Midsummer  Eve  there  is  found, 
under  the  root  of  mugwort,  a  coal  which  saves  or  keeps 
them  safe  from  the  plague,  carbuncle,  lightning,  the 
quartan  ague,  and  from  burning,  that  bear  the  same 
about  them."  He  also  says  it  is  reported  that  the 
same  remarkable  "  coal "  is  found  at  the  same  time  of 
the  year  under  the  root  of  plantain;  and  he  adds  that 
he  knows  this  "  to  be  of  truth,"  for  he  has  found  it 
there  himself ! 

Midsummer  Eve  was  also  thought  to  be  a  season 
productive  of  madness.  In  Twelfth  Night  (iii.  4.  61) 
Olivia  says  of  Malvolio's  eccentric  behavior,  "  Why,  this 


igo  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

is  very  midsummer  madness."  Steevens,  the  Shake- 
spearian critic,  believed  that  the  Midsummer-Night's 
Dream  owed  its  title  to  this  association  of  mental  va- 
garies with  the  season.  John  Heywood,  writing  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  i6th  century,  alludes  to  the  same 
belief  when  he  says  : — 

"As  mad  as  a  March  hare;  when  madness  compares, 
Are  not  Midsummer  hares  as  mad  as  March  hares  ?" 

It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  the  Midsummer- 
Nighfs  Dream  was  so  called  because  it  was  to  be  first 
represented  at  Midsummer,  or  because  it  was  like  the 
plays  commonly  performed  in  connection  with  the  fes- 
tivities of  that  season.  A  drama  in  which  fairies  were 
leading  characters  was  in  keeping  with  the  time  of 
year  when  fairies  and  spirits  were  supposed  to  mani- 
fest themselves  to  mortal  vision  either  in  vigils  or  in 
dreams. 

CHRISTMAS. 

Passing  by  sundry  minor  festivals  of  the  year,  we 
come  to  Christmas,  which  is  a  day  of  feasting  and 
merrymaking  in  England  even  now,  though  but  a 
"  starveling  Christmas "  compared  with  that  of  the 
olden  time.  "  Where  now,"  as  Mr.  Knight  asks,  "  is 
the  real  festive  exhilaration  of  Christinas  ;  the  meeting 
of  all  ranks  as  children  of  a  common  father ;  the  tenant 
speaking  freely  in  his  landlord's  hall ;  the  laborers  and 
their  families  sitting  at  the  same  great  oak  table ;  the 
Yule  Log  brought  in  with  shout  and  song  ?  '  No  night 
is  now  with  hymn  or  carol  blest.'  There  are  singers 
of  carols  even  now  at  a  Stratford  Christmas.  War- 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  191 

wickshire  has  retained  some  of  its  ancient  carols.  But 
the  singers  are  wretched  chorus-makers,  according  to 
the  most  unmusical  style  of  all  the  generations  from 
the  time  of  the  Commonwealth.  .  .  .  But  in  an  age  of 
music  we  may  believe  that  one  young  dweller  in  Strat- 
ford gladly  woke  out  of  his  innocent  sleep,  after  the 
evening  bells  had  rung  him  to  rest,  when  in  the  still- 
ness of  the  night  the  psaltery  was  gently  touched  be- 
fore his  father's  porch,  and  he  heard,  one  voice  under 
another,  these  simple  and  solemn  strains  : — 

"  '  As  Joseph  was  a-walking 

He  heard  an  angel  sing, 
This  night  shall  be  born 
Our  heaverily  King. 

" '  He  neither  shall  be  born 
In  housen  nor  in  hall, 
Nor  in  the  place  of  Paradise, 
But  in  an  ox's  stall. 

"  '  He  neither  shall  be  clothed 

In  purple  nor  in  pall, 
But  all  in  fair  linen, 
As  were  babies  all. 

"  '  He  neither  shall  be  rock'd 

In  silver  nor  in  gold, 
But  in  a  wooden  cradle 
That  rocks  on  the  mould.' 


London  has  perhaps  this  carol  yet,  among  its  half- 
penny ballads.  A  man  who  had  a  mind  attuned  to 
the  love  of  what  was  beautiful  in  the  past  has  pre- 


I92  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

served  it ;  but  it  was  for  another  age.  It  was  for  the 
age  of  William  Shakespeare.  It  was  for  the  age  when 
superstition,  as  we  call  it,  had  its  poetical  faith.  .  .  . 

"  Such  a  night  was  a  preparation  for  a  'happy  Christ- 
mas.' The  Cross  of  Stratford  was  garnished  with  the 
holly,  the  ivy,  and  the  bay.  Hospitality  was  in  every 
house  ;  but  .the  hall  of  the  great  landlord  of  the  parish 
was  a  scene  of  rare  conviviality.  The  frost  or  the 
snow  will  not  deter  the  principal  tenants  and  friends 
from  the  welcome  of  Clopton.  There  is  the  old  house, 
nestled  in  the  woods,  looking  down  upon  the  little 
town.  Its  chimneys  are  reeking;  there  is  bustle  in  the 
offices ;  the  sound  of  the  trumpeters  and  the  pipers  is 
heard  through  the  open  door  of  the  great  entrance ; 
the  steward  marshals  the  guests ;  the  tables  are  fast 
filling.  Then  advance,  courteously,  the  master  and 
the  mistress  of  the  feast.  The  Boar's  head  is  brought 
in  with  due  solemnity ;  the  wine-cup  goes  round ;  and 
perhaps  the  Saxon  shout  of  Waes-hael  and  Drink-hael 
may  still  be  shouted.  The  boy-guest  who  came  with 
his  father,  the  tenant  of  Ingon,  has  slid  away  from  the 
rout ;  for  the  steward,  who  loves  the  boy,  has  a  sight 
to  make  him  merry.  The  Lord  of  Misrule  and  his 
jovial  attendants  are  rehearsing  their  speeches ;  and 
the  mummers  from  Stratford  are  at  the  porch.  Very 
sparing  are  the  cues  required  for  the  enactment  of  this 
short  drama.  A  speech  to  the  esquire,  closed  with  a 
merry  jest;  something  about  ancestry  and  good  Sir 
Hugh;  the  loud  laugh;  the  song  and  the  chorus;  and 
the  Lord  of  Misrule  is  now  master  of  the  feast.  The 
Hall  is  cleared.  .  .  .  There  is  dancing  till  curfew ;  and 
then  a  walk  in  the  moonlight  to  Stratford,  the  pale 
beam  shining  equally  upon  the  dark  resting-place  in 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  193 

the  lonely  aisle  of  the  Clopton  who  is  gone,  and  upon 
the  festal  hall  of  the  Clopton  who  remains,  where  some 
loiterers  of  the  old  and  young  still  desire  '  to  burn  this 
night  with  torches.'  " 

This  is  a  fancy  picture,  but  it  is  in  keeping  with  the 
life  of  the  time.  Whether  the  boy  Shakespeare  spent  a 
Christmas  in  just  this  manner  or  not,  we  may  be  sure 
that  he  enjoyed  the  merriment  of  the  season  to  the  full. 

There  are  a  few  allusions  to  Christmas  in  the  plays, 
besides  the  beautiful  one  in  Hamlet  already  quoted 
(page  138)  in  another  connection.  In  Love's  Labour  's 
Lost  (v.  2.  462)  "a  Christmas  comedy"  is  alluded  to; 
and  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (ind.  2.  140),  when  Sly 
the  tinker  learns  that  a  comedy  is  to  be  played  for  his 
entertainment,  he  asks  whether  a  "comonty"  is  "like 
a  Christmas  gambold  or  a  tumbling-trick." 

s 

SHEEP-SHEARING. 

Our  English  ancestors  had  other  holidays  than  those 
associated  with  the  ecclesiastical  year,  but  only  one  or 
two  of  them  can  be  mentioned  here. 

The  time  of  sheep-shearing  was  celebrated  by  a  rural 
feast  such  as  Shakespeare  has  introduced  in  The  Win- 
ter's Tale.  The  shearing  took  place  in  the  spring  as 
soon  as  the  weather  became  warm  enough  for  the 
sheep  to  lay  aside  their  winter  clothing  without  danger. 
John  Dyer,  in  his  poem  entitled  The  Fleece  (1757),  fixes 
the  proper  time  thus: — 

"  If  verdant  elder  spreads 
Her  silver  flowers,  if  humble  daisies  yield 
To  yellow  crowfoot  and  luxuriant  grass, 
Gay  shearing-time  approaches." 
13 


i94  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

Drayton,  writing  in  Shakespeare's  day  (page  3  above), 
describes  a  shearing-feast  in  the  Vale  of  Evesham,  not 
far  from  Stratford  :  — 

"  The  shepherd-king, 
Whose  flock  hath  chanced  that  year  the  earliest  lamb 

to  bring, 

In  his  gay  baldric  sits  at  his  low,  grassy  board, 
With  flawns,  curds,  clouted  cream,  and  country  dainties 

stored  ; 

And  whilst  the  bagpipe  plays,  each  lusty  jocund  swain 
Quaffs  syllabubs  in  cans  to  all  upon  the  plain  ; 
And    to   their    country    girls,    whose    nosegays    they   do 

wear, 
Some  roundelays  do  sing,  the  rest  the  burden  bear." 


In  The  Winter  s  Tale,  instead  of  the  shepherd-king 
we  have  the  more  poetical  shepherdess-queen.  Dr.  F. 
J.  Furnivall,  in  his  introduction  to  this  play,  remarks : 
"  How  happily  it  brings  Shakespeare  before  us,  mixing 
with  his  Stratford  neighbors  at  their  sheep-shearing 
and  country  sports,  enjoying  the  vagabond  peddler's 
gammon  and  talk,  delighting  in  the  sweet  Warwick- 
shire maidens,  and  buying  them  '  fairings,'  opening  his 
heart  afresh  to  all  the  innocent  mirth  and  the  beauty 
of  nature  around  him  !"  Doubtless  he  enjoyed  these 
rural  festivities  in  his  later  years,  after  he  settled  down 
in  his  own  house  at  Stratford,  no  less  heartily  than  he 
clid  in  his  boyhood,  when  his  father  may  have  had 
sheep  to  shear. 

Mr.  Knight  remarks  :  "  There  is  a  minuteness  of  cir- 
cumstance amidst  the  exquisite  poetry  of  this  scene  [in 
The  Winter's  Tale]  which  shows  that  it  must  have  been 
founded  upon  actual  observation,  and  in  all  likelihood 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  195 

upon  the  keen  and  prying  observation  of  a  boy  occu- 
pied and  interested  with  such  details.  Surely  his  fa- 
ther's pastures  and  his  father's  homestead  might  have 
supplied  all  these  circumstances.  His  father's  man 
might  be  the  messenger  to  the  town,  and  reckon  upon 
'counters'  the  cost  of  the  sheep-shearing  feast.  'Three 
pounds  of  sugar,  five  pounds  of  currants,  rice ' — and 
then  he  asks,  'What  will  this  sister  of  mine  do  with 
rice?'  In  Bohemia  the  clown  might,  with  dramatic 
propriety,  not  know  the  use  of  rice  at  a  sheep-shear- 
ing ;  but  a  Warwickshire  swain  would  have  the  flavor 
of  cheese-cakes  in  his  mouth  at  the  first  mention  of 
rice  and  currants.  Cheese-cakes  and  warden-pies  were 
the  sheep-shearing  delicacies." 

Shakespeare  evidently  knew  for  what  the  rice  was 
wanted  at  the  feast ;  but  the  clown,  who  was  no  cook, 
might  be  familiar  with  the  flavor  of  the  cakes  without 
understanding  all  the  ingredients  that  entered  into 
their  composition. 

Thomas  Tusser,  in  his  Five  Hundred  Points  of  Hus- 
bandry (1557),  describing  this  festival,  makes  the  shep- 
herd say  : — 

"  Wife,  make  us  a  dinner,  spare  flesh  neither  corn, 
Make  wafers  and  cakes,  for  our  sheep  must  be  shorn  ; 
At  sheep-shearing,  neighbors  none  other  things  crave 
But  good  cheer  and  welcome  like  neighbors  to  have." 


HARVEST-HOME. 

The  ingathering  of  the  harvest  was  a  season  of  great 
rejoicing  from  the  most  remote  antiquity.  "  Sowing  is 
hope ;  reaping,  fruition  of  the  expected  good."  To 


1 96  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

the  husbandman  to  whom  the  fear  of  wet,  blights,  and 
other  mischances  has  been  a  source  of  anxiety  between 
seedtime  and  harvest,  the  fortunate  completion  of  his 
long  labors  cannot  fail  to  be  a  relief  and  a  delight. 

Paul  Hentzner,  writing  in  1598  at  Windsor,  says: 
"  As  we  were  returning  to  our  inn  we  happened  to 
meet  some  country-people  celebrating  their  harvest- 
home.  Their  last  load  of  corn  they  crown  with  flow- 
ers, having  besides  an  image  richly  dressed,  by  which 
perhaps  they  would  signify  Ceres.  This  they  keep 
moving  about,  while  men  and  women,  riding  through 
the  streets  in  the  cart,  shout  as  loud  as  they  can  till 
they  arrive  at  the  barn."  In  the  reign  of  James  I., 
Moresin,  another  foreigner,  saw  a  figure  made  of  corn 
drawn  home  in  a  cart,  with  men  and  women  singing 
to  the  pipe  and  the  drum. 

Matthew  Stevenson,  in  the  Twelve  Months  (1661), 
tinder  August,  alludes  to  this  festival  thus  :  "The  fur- 
menty-pot  welcomes  home  the  harvest-cart,  and  the 
garland  of  flowers  crowns  the  captain  of  the  reapers  • 
the  battle  of  the  field  is  now  stoutly  fought.  The  pipe 
and  the  tabor  are  now  busily  set  a-work ;  and  the  lad 
and  the  lass  will  have  no  lead  on  their  heels.  O,  't  is 
the  merry  time  wherein  honest  neighbors  make  good 
cheer,  and  God  is  glorified  in  his  blessings  on  the 
earth." 

Robert  Herrick,  in  his  Hesperides  (1648),  refers  to 
the  harvest-home  as  follows  : — 

"  Come,  sons  of  summer,  by  whose  toil 
We  are  the  lords  of  wine  and  oil, 
By  whose  tough  labor  and  rough  hands 
We  rip  up  first,  then  reap  our  lands, 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  197 

Crown'd  with  the  ears  of  corn,  now  come, 

And  to  the  pipe  sing  harvest-home. 

Come  forth,  my  lord,  and  see  the  cart, 

Drest  up  with  all  the  country  art. 

See  here  a  mawkin,  there  a  sheet 

As  spotless  pure  as  it  is  sweet: 

The  horses,  mares,  and  frisking  fillies 

Clad  all  in  linen,  white  as  lilies; 

The  harvest  swains  and  wenches  bound 

For  joy  to  see  the  hock-cart  crown'd. 

About  the  cart  hear  how  the  rout 

Of  rural  younglings  raise  the  shout; 

Pressing  before,  some  coming  after, 

Those  with  a  shout,  and  these  with  laughter. 

Some  bless  the  cart,  some  kiss  the  sheaves, 

Some  prank  them  up  with  oaken  leaves ; 

Some  cross  the  fill-horse ;  some,  with  great 

Devotion,  stroke  the  home-borne  wheat. 

******* 

Well,  on,  brave  boys,  to  your  lord's  hearth,  " 

Glittering  with  fire  ;  where,  for  your  mirth, 

You  shall  see,  first,  the  large  and  chief 

Foundation  of  your  feast,  fat  beef; 

With  upper  stories,  mutton,  veal, 

And  bacon  (which  makes  full  the  meal), 

With  several  dishes  standing  by, 

And  here  a  custard,  there  a  pie, 

And  here  all-tempting  frumenty." 

The  "  hock-cart "  was  the  cart  that  brought  home  the 
last  load  of  corn.  It  was  sometimes  called  the 
"hockey-cart";  and  one  of  the  dainties  of  the  feast 
was  the  "hockey-cake."  In  an  almanac  for  1676,  un- 
der August,  we  read  :— 

"  Hocky  is  brought  home  with  hallowing, 
Boys  with  plum-cake  the  cart  following." 


rg8  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

The  harvest-home  is  alluded  to  in  i  Henry  IV.  (i.  3. 
35),  where  '  Hotspur,  describing  the  "  popinjay  "  lord 
who  came  to  demand  his  prisoners,  says  : — 

"  and  his  chin  new-reap'd 
Show'd  like  a  stubble-land  at  harvest-home." 

In  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (ii.  2.  287)  Falstaff 
says  of  Mistress  Ford,  to  whom  he  intends  to  make 
love,  "  and  there  's  my  harvest-home." 

In  the  interlude  in  The  Tempest  (iv.  i.  134)  the  dance 
of  the  Reapers  was  apparently  a  reminiscence  of 
harvest-home  sports.  Iris  says:  — 

"  You  sunburnt  sicklemen,  of  August  weary, 
Come  hither  from  the  furrow  and  be  merry. 
Make  holiday ;  your  rye-straw  hats  put  on, 
And  these  fresh  nymphs  encounter  every  one 
In  country  footing." 

The  following  passage  in  the  i2th  Sonnet,  though  it 
has  nothing  of  festival  joyousness,  may  have  been  sug- 
gested by  the  ceremonial  bringing  home  of  the  last 
load  of  grain  : — 

"  When  lofty  trees  I  see  barren  of  leaves 
Which  erst  from  heat  did  canopy  the  herd, 
And  summer  s  green  all  girded  up  in  sheaves 
Borne  on  the  bier  with  white  and  bristly  beard"  etc. 

MARKETS    AND    FAIRS. 

In  a  quiet  country  town  like  Stratford  the  weekly 
market  was  an  occasion  of  some  interest  to  the  boys  as 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  199 

to  their  elders.  There  is  still  such  a  market  on  Fri- 
days at  Stratford,  when  wares  of  many  sorts  are  ex- 
posed for  sale  in  the  streets,  and  people  from  the 
neighboring  villages  come  to  buy.  In  old  times  there 
would  have  been  a  greater  throng  of  buyers  and  sell- 
ers. "  The  housewife  from  her  little  farm  would  ride 
in  gallantly  between  her  paniers  laden  with  butter, 
eggs,  chickens,  and  capons.  The  farmer  would  stand 
by  his  pitched  corn,  and,  as  Harrison  complains,  if  the 
poor  man  handled  the  sample  with  the  intent  to  pur- 
chase his  humble  bushel,  the  man  of  many  sacks  would 
declare  that  it  was  sold.  There,  before  shops  were 
many  and  their  stocks  extensive,  would  come  the  deal- 
ers from  Birmingham  and  Coventry,  with  wares  for  use 
and  wares  for  show,  —  horse -gear  and  women -gear, 
Sheffield  whittles,  and  rings  with  posies." 

We  find  a  number  of  allusions  to  these  markets  in 
Shakespeare's  plays.  In  Loves  'Labour  's  Lost  (v.  2. 
318)  Biron,  ridiculing  Boyet,  says  of  him:— 

"  He  is  art's  pedler,  and  retails  his  wares 
At  wakes  and  wassails,  meetings,  markets,  fairs." 

In  the  same  play  (iii.  i.  in)  there  is  an  allusion  to  the 
old  proverb,  "  Three  women  and  a  goose  make  a  mar- 
ket,1' where  Costard,  referring  to  Moth's  nonsense 
about  "  the  fox,  the  ape,  and  the  humble-bee,"  followed 
by  the  goose  that  made  up  four,  says,  "And  he  [the 
goose]  ended  the  market." 

In  As  You  Like  It  (iii.  2.  104)  Touchstone,  mak- 
ing fun  of  Orlando's  v?erses  which  Rosalind  has  just 
read,  says:  "I'll  rhyme  you  so  eight  years  together, 
dinners  and  suppers  and  sleeping-hours  excepted  :  it  is 


200  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

the  right  butter-women's  rank  to  market";  that  is,  the 
metre  is  just  like  the  jog-trot  of  countrywomen  rid- 
ing to  market  one  after  another,  with  their  butter 
and  eggs. 

In  Richard  III.  (i.  i.  160)  Gloster,  after  saying  that 
he  means  to  "  marry  Warwick's  youngest  daughter," 
adds : — 

"  But  yet  I  run  before  my  horse  to  market : 
Clarence  still  breathes,  Edward  still  lives  and  reigns; 
When  they  are  gone,  then  must  I  count  my  gains." 

He  means,  in  the  language  of  a  more  familiar  prov- 
erb, that  he  is  counting  his  chickens  before  they  are 
hatched ;  that  is,  he  is  too  hasty  in  reckoning  upon  the 
success  of  his  plans. 

In  i  Henry  VI.  (iii.  2)  Joan  of  Arc  gets  into  Rouen 
with  her  soldiers  in  the  guise  of  countrymen  bound 
for  market :  — 

"Enter  La  Pucelle,  disguised,  and  Soldiers  dressed  like 
countrymen,  with  sacks  upon  their  backs. 

Pucelle.  These  are  the  city  gates,  the  gates  of  Rouen, 
Through  which  our  policy  must  make  a  breach. 
Take  heed,  be  wary  how  you  place  your  words; 
Talk  like  the  vulgar  sort  of  market-men, 
That  come  to  gather  money  for  their  corn. 
If  we  have  entrance — as  I  hope  we  shall — 
And  that  we  find  the  slothful  watch  but  weak, 
I'll  by  a  sign  give  notice  to  our  friends 
That  Charles  the  Dauphin  may  encounter  them. 

i  Soldier.  Our  sacks  shall  be  a  mean  to  sack  the  city, 
And  we  be  lords  and  rulers  over  Rouen  ; 
Therefore  we'll  knock.  {Knocks. 


THE   FAIR 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  201 

Guard.    [  Within^    Qut  est  la  ? 

Pucelle.  Pazsans,  pauvres  gens  de  France: 
Poor  market-folks,  that  come  to  sell  their  corn. 

Guard.  \Opening  the  gates  J\   Enter,  go  in;  the  mar- 
ket-bell is  rung. 

Pucelle.  Now,  Rouen,  I'll  shake  thy  bulwarks  to  the 
ground." 

The  "  market-bell "  was  rung  at  the  hour  when  the 
market  was  to  begin. 

In  the  same  play  (v.  5.  54),  when  a  dower  is  pro- 
posed for  Margaret,  who  is  to  marry  Henry,  Suffolk 
says  : — 

"  A  dower,  my  lords !  disgrace  not  so  your  king, 
That  he  should  be  so  abject,  base,  and  poor, 
To  choose  for  wealth,  and  not  for  perfect  love. 
Henry  is  able  to  enrich  his  queen, 
And  not  to  seek  a  queen  to  make  him  rich  : 
So  worthless  peasants  bargain  for  their  wives, 
As  market-men  for  oxen,  sheep,  or  horse." 

In  2  Henry  VI.  (v.  2.  62),  when  Cade  has  said  boast- 
ingly,  "  I  am  able  to  endure  much,"  Dick  makes  the 
comment,  aside :  "  No  question  of  that ;  for  I  have 
seen  him  whipped  three  market-days  together." 

There  are  many  other  allusions  to  markets,  market- 
men,  market-maids,  etc.,  in  the  plays,  but  these  will 
suffice  for  illustration  here. 

The  semi-annual  Fair  was  a  market  on  a  grander 
scale.  The  increased  crowd  of  dealers  called  for  certain 
police  regulations,  and  these  were  strictly  enforced. 
The  town  council  appointed  to  each  trade  a  particular 
station  in  the  streets.  Thus,  raw  hides  were  to  be  ex- 
posed for  sale  in  the  Rother  Market.  Sellers  of  but- 


202  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

ter,  cheese,  wick-yarn,  and  fruits  were  to  set  up  their 
stalls  by  the  cross  at  the  Guild  Chapel.  A  part  of  the 
High  Street  was  assigned  to  country  butchers.  Pew- 
terers  were  ordered  to  "pitch"  their  wares  in  Wood 
Street,  and  to  pay  fourpence  a  square  yard  for  the 
ground  they  occupied.  Salt-wagons,  whose  owners  did 
a  large  business  when  salted  meats  formed  the  staple 
supply  of  food,  were  permitted  to  stand  about  the  cross 
in  the  Rother  Market.  At  various  points  victuallers 
could  erect  booths.  These  regulations  were  necessary 
to  prevent  strife  concerning  locations,  and  violations 
were  punished  by  heavy  fines. 

Mr.  Knight  remarks  :  "  At  the  joyous  Fair-season  it 
would  seem  that  the  wealth  of  a  world  was  emptied  into 
Stratford  ;  not  only  the  substantial  things,  the  wine,  the 
wax,  the  wheat,  the  wool,  the  malt,  the  cheese,  the  clothes, 
the  n apery,  such  as  even  great  lords  sent  their  stew- 
ards to  the  Fairs  to  buy,  but  every  possible  variety  of 
such  trumpery  as  fills  the  pedler's  pack,  —  ribbons, 
inkles,  caddises,  coifs,  stomachers,  pomanders,  brooches, 
tapes,  shoe-ties.  Great  dealings  were  there  on  these 
occasions  in  beeves  and  horses,  tedious  chafferings, 
stout  affirmations,  saints  profanely  invoked  to  ratify  a 
bargain.  A  mighty  man  rides  into  the  Fair  who  scat- 
ters consternation  around.  It  is  the  Queen's  Pur- 
veyor. The  best  horses  are  taken  up  for  her  Majesty's 
use,  at  her  Majesty's  price;  and  they  probably  find 
their  way  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  or  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick's stables  at  a  considerable  profit  to  Master  Pur- 
veyor. The  country  buyers  and  sellers  look  blank  ; 
but  there  is  no  remedy.  There  is  solace,  however,  if 
there  is  not  redress.  The  ivy-bush  is  at  many  a  door, 
and  the  sounds  of  merriment  are  within,  as  the  ale  and 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  203 

the  sack  are  quaffed  to  friendly  greetings.  In  the 
streets  there  are  morris-dancers,  the  juggler  with  his 
ape,  and  the  minstrel  with  his  ballads.  We  may  imag- 
ine the  foremost  in  a  group  of  boys  listening  to  the 
*  small  popular  musics  sung  by  these  cantabanqui  upon 
benches  and  barrels'  heads,'  or  more  earnestly  to  some 
one  of  the  'blind  harpers,  or  such-like  tavern  minstrels, 
that  give  a  fit  of  mirth  for  a  groat;  their  matters  being 
for  the  most  part  stories  of  old  time  as  The  Tale  of  Sir 
Topas,  Bevis  of  Southampton,  Guy  of  Warwick,  Adam 
Bell  and  Clymme  of  the  Clough,  and  such  other  old 
romances  or  historical  rhymes,  made  purposely  for 
the  recreation  of  the  common  people.'  A  bold  fellow, 
who  is  full  of  queer  stories  and  cant  phrases,  strikes 
a  few  notes  upon  his  gittern,  and  the  lads  and  lasses 
are  around  him  ready  to  dance  their  country  meas- 
ures. .  .  . 

"The  Fair  is  over;  the  booths  are  taken  down;  the 
woolen  statute-caps,  which  the  commonest  people  re- 
fuse to  wear  because  there  is  a  penalty  for  not  wearing 
them,  are  packed  up  again ;  the  prohibited  felt  hats 
are  all  sold  ;  the  millinery  has  found  a  ready  market 
among  the  sturdy  yeomen,  who  are  careful  to  propitiate 
their  home-staying  wives  after  the  fashion  of  the  Wife 
of  Bath's  husbands.  .  .  .  The  juggler  has  packed  up 
his  cup  and  balls ;  the  last  cudgel-play  has  been  fought 
out : — 

"  '  Near  the  dying  of  the  day 
There  will  be  a  cudgel-play, 
Where  a  coxcomb  will  be  broke 
Ere  a  good  word  can  be  spoke : 
But  the  anger  ends  all  here, 
Drench'd  in  ale,  or  drown'd  in  beer.' 


204  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

Morning  comes,  and  Stratford  hears  only  the  quiet 
steps  of  its  native  population." 

There  are  many  allusions,  literal  and  figurative,  to 
these  fairs  in  Shakespeare's  plays,  a  few  of  which  may 
be  cited  here  as  specimens. 

In  Loves  Labour  V  Lost,  besides  the  one  quoted 
above  (page  199),  we  find  the  following  simile  in  Biron's 
eulogy  of  Rosaline  (iv.  3.  235)  : — 

"Of  all  complexions  the  cull'd  soverignty 
Do  meet,  as  at  a  fair,  in  her  fair  cheek." 

In  the  same  play  (v.  2.  2),  the  Princess  says  to  her 
ladies,  referring  to  the  presents  they  have  received  : — 

"  Sweet  hearts,  we  shall  be  rich  ere  we  depart 
If  fairings  come  thus  plentifully  in." 

It  was  so  common  a  practice  to  buy  presents  at  fairs 
that  the  \vordfairing,  which  originally  meant  presents 
thus  bought,  came  to  be  used  in  a  more  general  sense, 
as  in  this  passage  and  many  others  that  might  be 
quoted. 

In  The  Winter  s  Tale  (iv.  3.  109)  the  Clown  says  of 
the  merry  peddler  Autolycus  that  "  he  haunts  wakes, 
fairs,  and  bear-baitings."  Later  (iv.  4)  we  meet  the 
rogue  at  the  sheep-shearing,  where  he  finds  a  good 
market  for  ribbons,  gloves,  and  other  "fairings,"  which 
the  swains  buy  for  their  sweethearts;  and  when  the 
festival  is  over  he  says  :  "  I  have  sold  all  my  trumpery; 
not  a  counterfeit  stone,  not  a  ribbon,  glass,  pomander, 
brooch,  table-book,  ballad,  knife,  tape,  glove,  shoe-tie, 
bracelet,  horn-ring,  to  keep  my  pack  from  fasting ; 
they  throng  who  should  buy  first,  as  if  my  trinkets 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  205 

had  been  hallowed  and  brought  a  benediction  to  the 
buyer." 

In  2  Henry  IV.  (iii.  2.  43)  Shallow  asks  his  cousin 
Silence,  "  How  a  good  yoke  of  bullocks  now  at  Stam- 
ford fair  ?"  and  Silence  replies,  "  By  my  troth,  I  was 
not  there."  Later  (v.  i.  26)  Davy  asks  Shallow:  "Sir, 
do  you  mean  to  stop  any  of  William's  wages,  about  the 
sack  he  lost  the  other  day  at  Hinckley  fair?" 

In  Henry  VIII.  (v.  4.  73)  the  Chamberlain,  seeing 
the  crowd  gathered  to  get  a  sight  of  the  royal  proces- 
sion, exclaims  : — 

"  Mercy  o'  me,  what  a  multitude  are  here  ! 
They  grow  still  too ;   from  all  parts  they  are  coming, 
As  if  we  kept  a  fair  here." 

In  Lear  (iii  6.  78)  Edgar,  in  his  random  talk  while 
pretending  to  be  insane,  cries :  "  Come,  march  to 
wakes  and  fairs  and  market-towns  !" 

The  "  wakes,"  mentioned  so  often  in  connection  with 
fairs,  were  annual  feasts  kept  to  commemorate  the 
dedication  of  a  church ;  called  so,  as  an  old  writer 
tells  us,  "  because  the  night  before  they  were  used  to 
watch  till  morning  in  the  church."  The  next  day  was 
given  up  to  feasting  and  all  sorts  of  rural  merriment. 
In  the  churchwardens'  accounts  of  the  time  we  find 
charges  for  "wine  and  sugar,"  for  "bread,  wine,  and 
ale,"  and  the  like,  for  "certain  of  the  parish,"  for  "the 
singing  men  and  singing  children,"  and  others,  on 
these  occasions. 

At  these  wakes,  as  at  the  fairs  and  other  large  gath- 
erings, whether  festal  or  commercial,  hawkers  and  ped- 
dlers came  to  sell  their  wares  and  merchants  set  up 
their  stalls  and  booths,  often  in  the  very  churchyard 


2o6  SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY 

and  even  on  a  Sunday.  The  clergy  naturally  de. 
nounced  this  profanation  of  the  Sabbath,  but  it  was 
not  entirely  suppressed  until  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. 

Stubbes,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Abuses  (1583),  inveighed 
against  these  wakes,  as  against  the  May-day  sports 
(page  176  above),  especially  on  account  of  the  money 
wasted  at  them,  "  insomuch  as  the  poor  men  that  bear 
the  charges  of  these  feasts  and  wakes  are  the  poorer 
and  keep  the  worser  houses  a  long  time  after :  and  no 
marvel,  for  many  spend  more  at  one  of  these  wakes 
than  in  all  the  whole  year  besides." 

Herrick,  in  his  Hesperides  (page  196  above)  took  a 
more  cheerful  view  of  such  rural  holidays : — 

"Come,  Anthea,  let  us  two 
Go  to  feast,  as  others  do. 
Tarts  and  custards,  creams  and  cakes, 
Are  the  junkets  still  at  wakes ; 
Unto  which  the  tribes  resort, 
Where  the  business  is  the  sport. 
Morris-dancers  thou  shalt  see, 
Marian  too  in  pageantry; 
And  a  mimic  to  devise 
Many  grinning  properties. 
Players  there  will  be,  and  those 
Base  in  action  as  in  clothes; 
Yet  with  strutting  they  will  please 
The  incurious  villages. 
****** 

Happy  rustics,  best  content 
With  the  cheapest  merriment; 
And  possess  no  other  fear 
Than  to  want  the  wake  next  year;" 

that  is,  to  miss  or  lack  it. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  207 

RURAL    OUTINGS. 

Much  of  the  recreation,  as  of  the  education,  of  Wil- 
liam Shakespeare  was  in  the  fields.  "  He  is  rarely  a 
descriptive  poet,  distinctively  so  called ;  but  images  of 
mead  and  grove,  of  dale  and  upland,  of  forest  depths, 
of  quiet  walks  by  gentle  rivers, — reflections  of  his  own 
native  scenery, — spread  themselves  without  an  effort 
over  all  his  writings.  All  the  occupations  of  a  rural 
life  are  glanced  at  or  embodied  in  his  characters.  He 
wreathes  all  the  flowers  of  the  field  in  his  delicate 
chaplets ;  and  even  the  nicest  mysteries  of  the  garden- 
er's art  can  be  expounded  by  him.  His  poetry  in  this, 
as  in  all  other  great  essentials,  is  like  the  operations  of 
nature  itself;  we  see  not  its  workings.  But  we  maybe 
assured,  from  the  very  circumstance  of  its  appearing 
so  accidental,  so  spontaneous  in  its  relations  to  all 
external  nature  and  to  the  country  life,  that  it  had  its 
foundation  in  very  early  and  very  accurate  observation. 
Stratford  was  especially  fitted  to  have  been  the  'green 
lap '  in  which  the  boy-poet  was  *  laid.'  The  whole  face 
of  creation  here  wore  an  aspect  of  quiet  loveliness." 

The  surrounding  country  was  no  less  beautiful ;  and 
William  would  naturally  become  familiar  with  it  in  his 
boyish  rambles  and  in  his  visits  to  his  relatives.  The 
village  of  Wilmcote,  the  home  of  his  mother,  was  with- 
in walking  distance  ;  and  so  was  Snitterfield,  where  his 
father  lived  before  he  came  to  Stratford,  and  where  his 
uncle  Henry  still  resided.  All  through  the  wooded 
district  of  Arden  the  name  of  Shakespeare  was  very 
common,  and  among  those  who  bore  it  were  probably 
other  families  more  or  less  closely  related  to  John 
Shakespeare's. 


208  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

However  that  may  have  been,  the  enterprising  glover 
and  wool-merchant  must  have  had  large  dealings  with 
the  neighboring  farmers ;  and  William  must  have  seen 
much  of  rural  life  and  employments  in  the  company  of 
his  father,  or  when  wandering  at  his  own  free  will  in 
the  country  about  Stratford.  In  no  other  way  could  he 
have  gained  the  intimate  acquaintance  with  farming 
and  gardening  operations  of  which  his  works  bear  evi- 
dence. He  went  to  London  before  his  literary  career 
began,  and  lived  there  until  it  closed,  with  only  brief 
occasional  visits  to  Warwickshire.  In  the  metropolis 
he  could  not  have  added  much  to  his  early  lessons  in 
the  country  life  and  character  of  which  he  has  given 
us  such  graphic  and  faithful  delineations.  These  are 
thoroughly  fresh  and  real;  they  tell  of  the  outdoor  life 
he  loved,  and  never  smell  of  the  study-lamp,  as  Mil- 
ton's and  Spenser's  allusions  to  plants,  flowers,  and 
other  natural  objects  often  do. 

Volumes  have  been  written  on  the  plant-lore  and 
garden-craft  of  Skakespeare ;  and  the  authors  dwell 
equally  on  the  poet's  ingrained  love  of  the  country  and 
his  keen  observation  of  natural  phenomena  and  the 
agricultural  practice  of  the  time. 

In  Richard  II.  (iii.  4.  29-66)  the  Gardener  and  his 
Servant  draw  lessons  of  political  wisdom  from  the 
details  of  their  occupation  : — 

"  Gardener.  Go,  bind  thou  up  yon  dangling  apricocks, 
Which,  like  unruly  children,  make  their  sire 
Stoop  with  oppression  of  their  prodigal  weight; 
Give  some  supportance  to  the  bending  twigs. 
Go  thou,  and  like  an  executioner 
Cut  off  the  heads  of  too-fast-growing  sprays, 
That  look  too  lofty  in  our  commonwealth ; 


SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY  209 

All  must  be  even  in  our  government. 
You  thus  employ 'd,  I  will  go  root  away 
The  noisome  weeds,  that  without  profit  suck 
The  soil's  fertility  from  wholesome  flowers. 

Servant.  Why  should  we,  in  the  compass  of  a  pale, 
Keep  law,  and  form,  and  due  proportion, 
Showing,  as  in  a  model,  our  firm  estate, 
When  our  sea-walled  garden,  the  whole  land, 
Is  full  of  weeds;  her  fairest  flowers  chok'd  up, 
Her  fruit-trees  all  unprun'd,  her  hedges  ruin'd, 
Her  knots  disorder'd,  and  her  wholesome  herbs 
Swarming  with  caterpillars? 

Gardener.  Hold  thy  peace! 

He  that  hath  suffer'd  this  disorder'd  spring 
Hath  now  himself  met  with  the  fall  of  leaf. 
The  weeds  that  his  broad-spreading  leaves  did  shelter, 
That  seem'd  in  eating  him  to  hold  him  up, 
Are  pluck'd  up,  root  and  all,  by  Bolingbroke ; 
I  mean  the  Earl  of  Wiltshire,  Bushy,  Green. 

Servant.  What,  are  they  dead? 

Gardener.     They  are;  and  Bolingbroke 
Hath  seiz'd  the  wasteful  king. — O,  what  pity  is  it. 
That  he  hath  not  so  trimm'd  and  dress'd  his  land 
As  we  this  garden !     We  at  time  of  year 
Do  wound  the  bark,  the  skin  of  our  fruit-trees, 
Lest,  being  over-proud  with  sap  and  blood, 
With  too  much  riches  it  confound  itself: 
Had  he  done  so  to  great  and  growing  men, 
They  might  have  liv'd  to  bear,  and  he  to  taste 
Their  fruits  of  duty.     All  superfluous  branches 
We  lop  away,  that  bearing  boughs  may  live : 
Had  he  done  so,  himself  had  borne  the  crown, 
Which  waste  of  idle  hours  hath  quite  thrown  down." 

Mr.  Ellacombe,  commenting  upon  this  dialogue,  re- 
marks:  "This  most  interesting  passage  would  almost 


210  SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY 

tempt  us  to  say  that  Shakespeare  was  a  gardener  by 
profession ;  certainly  no  other  passages  that  have  been 
brought  to  prove  his  real  profession  are  more  minute 
than  this.  It  proves  him  to  have  had  practical  experi- 
ence in  the  work,  and  I  think  we  may  safely  say  that  he 
was  no  mere  'prentice  hand  in  the  use  of  the  pruning- 
knife."  But  this  play  was  written  in  London,  when  he 
could  hardly  have  known  anything  more  of  practical 
gardening  than  he  had  learned  in  his  boyhood  and 
youth  at  Stratford. 

Grafting  and  the  various  ways  of  propagating  plants 
by  cuttings,  slips,  etc.,  are  described  or  alluded  to  with 
equal  accuracy;  also  the  mischief  done  by  weeds, 
blights,  frosts,  and  other  enemies  of  the  husbandman 
and  horticulturist.  He  writes  on  all  these  matters  as 
we  might  expect  him  to  have  done  in  his  last  years  at 
Stratford,  after  he  had  had  actual  experience  in  the 
management  of  a  large  garden  at  New  Place  and  in 
farming  operations  on  other  lands  he  had  bought  in  the 
neighborhood ;  but  all  these  passages,  like  the  one 
quoted  from  Richard  //.,  were  written  long  before  he 
had  a  garden  of  his  own.  They  were  reminiscences 
of  his  observation  as  a  boy,  not  the  results  of  his 
experience  as  a  country  gentleman. 


NOTES 


ABBREVIATIONS,  except  a  few  of  the  most  familiar,  have  been  avoided  in  the 
Notes,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  book.  The  references  to  act,  scene,  and  line  in 
the  quotations  from  Shakespeare  are  added  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader  or 
student,  who  may  sometimes  wish  to  refer  to  the  context.  The  line-numbers 
are  those  of  the  "Globe"  edition,  which  vary  from  those  of  my  edition  only  in 
scenes  that  are  wholly  or  partly  in  prose* 

The  numbers  appended  to  names  of  authors  (as  in  the  note  on  page  22,  for  ex- 
ample) are  the  dates  of  their  birth  and  death.  An  interrogation-mark  after  a 
date  (as  in  the  note  on  page  114)  indicates  that  it  is  uncertain.  I  have  not 
thought  it  necessary  to  insert  biographical  notes  concerning  well-known  authors, 
like  Spenser,  Milton,  etc. 


NOTES 


Page  3. — Michael  Drayton.  He  was 
born  in  Warwickshire  in  1563.  Of  his 
personal  history  very  little  is  known.  His 
most  famous  work,  the  Poly-Olbion  (or 
Polyolbion,  as  it  is  often  printed),  is  a 
poem  of  about  30,000  lines,  the  subject  of 
which,  as  he  himself  states  it,  is  "a  cho- 
rographical  description  of  all  the  tracts, 
rivers,  mountains,  forests,  and  other  parts 
of  this  renowned  Isle  of  Great  Britain  ; 
with  intermixture  of  the  most  remarkable 
stories,  antiquities,  wonders,  etc.,  of  the 
same."  His  Ballad  of  Agincourt  (see 
Tales  from  English  History,  p.  39)  has 
been  called  "the  most  perfect  and  patri- 
otic of  English  ballads."  Drayton  was 
made  poet-laureate  in  1626.  He  died 
in  1631,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey. 

Page  l.—ffer  Bear.      The  badge    of 
"V     *      "v  the  Marls  of  Warwick. 

>«£  Wilmcote.     A  small  village  about  three 

j\  miles  from  Stratford-on-Avon.    The  name 

I  »  is  also  written  Wilmecote,  and  Wilnecote  ; 

and  in  old  documents,  Wilmcott,  Wincott,  etc.  It  is  probably  the 
Wincot  of  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (ind.  2.  23)  and  the  Woncot 
of  2  Henry  IV.  (v.  I.  42). 

Dugdale.  Sir  William  Dugdale  (1605-1686),  one  of  the  most 
learned  of  English  antiquaries.  His  Antiquities  of  Warwickshire 
(1656)  is  said  to  have  been  the  result  of  twenty  years'  laborious  re- 
search. 


214  NOTES 

Page  7. — Beauchamp.     Pronounced  Beech' -am. 

The  herse  of  brass  hoops.  The  word  herse  (the  same  as  hearse] 
originally  meant  a  harrow  ;  then  a  temporary  framework,  often 
shaped  like  a  harrow,  used  for  supporting  candles  at  a  funeral  ser- 
vice, and  placed  over  the  coffin  ;  then  a  kind  of  frame  or  cage  over 
an  effigy  on  a  tomb  ;  and  finally  a  carriage  for  bearing  a  corpse  to 
the  grave.  For  the  third  meaning  (which  we  have  here),  compare 
Ben  Jonson's  Epitaph  on  the  Countess  of  Pembroke  : — 

"  Underneath  this  sable  herse 

Lies  the  subject  of  all  verse,"  etc. 

The  garter.     Showing  that  he  was  a  Knight  of  the  Garter. 

The  noble  Impe.  The  word  imp  originally  meant  a  scion,  shoot, 
or  slip  of  a  tree  or  plant  ;  then,  figuratively,  human  offspring  or 
progeny,  as  here  and  in  many  passages  in  writers  of  the  time. 
Holinshed  the  chronicler  speaks  of  "  Prince  Edward,  that  goodlie 
impe,"  and  Churchyard  calls  Edward  VI.  "that  impe  of  grace." 
Fulwell,  addressing  Anne  Boleyn,  refers  to  Elizabeth  as  "  thy  royal 
impe."  As  first  applied  to  a  young  or  small  devil,  the  word  had 
this  same  meaning  of  offspring,  "an  imp  of  Satan"  being  a  child 
of  Satan.  How  it  came  later  to  mean  a  mischievous  urchin  I  leave 
the  small  folk  themselves  to  guess. 

Page  10. —  The  famous  "  dun  cow."  This,  according  to  the 
legend,  was  "  a  monstrous  wild  and  cruel  beast  "  which  ravaged  the 
country  about  Dunsmore.  Guy  also  slew  a  wild  boar  of  "  passing 
might  and  strength,"  and  a  dragon  "  black  as  any  coal "  which  was 
long  the  terror  of  Northumberland.  Compare  the  old  ballad  of 
Sir  Guy  : — 

"  On  Dunsmore  heath  I  also  slew 

A  monstrous  wild  and  cruel  beast, 
Call'd  the  Dun-cow  of  Dunsmore  heath, 
Which  many  people  had  opprest. 

*  Some  of  her  bones  in  Warwick  yet 

Still  for  a  monument  do  lie  ; 
And  there  exposed  to  lookers'  view 
As  wondrous  strange  they  may  espy. 

"  A  dragon  in  Northumberland 
I  also  did  in  fight  destroy, 
Which  did  both  man  and  beast  oppress, 
And  all  the  country  sore  annoy." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  215 

Page  13. — Master  Robert  Laneham.  He  was  an  English  mer- 
chant who  became  "doorkeeper  of  the  council-chamber"  to  the 
Earl  of  Leicester.  He  wrote  an  account,  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  of 
the  festivities  in  honor  of  this  visit  of  Elizabeth  to  Kenilworth, 
which  was  afterwards  printed.  He  is  one  of  the  characters  in 
Scott's  Kenilworth. 

Page  14. — Theatres,  etc.  The  cut  facing  page  14  shows  one 
of  the  movable  stages  referred  to  by  Dugdale  ;  also  two  of  "the 
three  tall  spires  "  mentioned  by  Tennyson  in  the  poem  of  Godiva. 
The  nearer  church  is  St.  Michael's,  said  to  be  the  largest  parish 
church  in  England,  with  a  steeple  303  feet  high.  Beyond  it  is 
Trinity  Church,  with  a  spire  237  feet  high. 

Page  15.  —  The  most  beautiful  in  the  kingdom.  There  is  a 
familiar  story  of  two  Englishmen  who  laid  a  wager  as  to  which  was 
the  finest  walk  in  England.  After  the  money  was  put  up,  one 
named  the  walk  from  Stratford  to  Coventry,  and  the  other  that 
from  Coventry  to  Stratford.  How  the  umpire  decided  the  case  is 
not  recorded. 

Page  Iti.  — The  Cappers.     The  makers  of  caps. 

Page  17, — King  Herod.  Longfellow,  in  his  Golden  Legend, 
introduces  a  miracle-play,  The  Nativity,  which  is  supposed  to  be 
acted  at  Strasburg.  Herod  figures  in  it  after  the  blustering  fashion 
of  the  ancient  dramas.  Young  readers  will  get  a  good  idea  of 
these  plays  from  this  imitation  of  them. 

Page  18. — Other  allusions  to  these  old  plays.  See,  for  instance, 
Twelfth  Night,  iv.  2.  134,  2  Henry  IV.  iii.  2.  343,  Richard 
III.  iii.  I.  82,  Hamlet,  iii.  4.  98,  etc.,  and  the  notes  in  my  edi- 
tion. 

Page  19. —  The  legend  of  Godiva.     See  Tennyson's  Godiva. 

Page  22. — Dr.  Forman.  Simon  Forman  (1552-1611),  a  noted 
astrologer  and  quack,  who  wrote  several  books,  and  left  a  diary,  in 
which  he  describes  at  considerable  length  the  plot  of  Shakespeare's 
Macbeth,  which  he  saw  performed  "at  the  Globe,  1:610,  the  2Oth 
of  April,  Saturday."  See  my  edition  of  Macbeth,  p.  9. 

Page  23. — The  head  of  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  is  from  his  monument 
in  Charlecote  church. 

Page  24. — A  willow  grows  aslant  a  brook.  See  Hamlet,  iv.  7. 
165.  Some  editions  of  Shakespeare  follow  the  reading  of  the  early 
quartos,  "  ascaunt  the  brook,"  which  means  the  same.  This  willow 
(the  Salix  alba}  grows  on  the  banks  of  the  Avon,  and  from  the 
looseness  of  the  soil  the  trees  often  partly  lose  their  hold,  and  bend 
"  aslant  "  the  stream. 


216  NOTES 

Page  26.—  The  banished  Duke  in  As  You  Like  It,  etc.  See 
the  play,  ii.  i.  1-18. 

His  maidens  ever  sing  of  "  blue-veined  violets"  etc.  The  "  blue- 
vein'd  violets"  are  mentioned  in  Venus  and  Adonis,  125;  the 
"daisies  pied"  (variegated),  and  the  "lady-smocks  all  silver- 
white,"  in  Love's  Labour  'j  Lost,  v.  2.  904,  905  ;  and  the  "  pansies  " 
in  flatnlet,  iv.  5.  176. 

Page  27. — A  manor  of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester.  Under  the 
feudal  system,  a  manor  was  a  landed  estate,  with  a  village  or  vil- 
lages upon  it  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  generally  villeins,  or 
serfs  of  the  owner  or  lord.  These  villeins  were  either  regardant  or 
in  gross.  The  former  "  belonged  to  the  manor  as  fixtures,  passing 
with  it  when  it  was  conveyed  or  inherited,  and  they  could  not  be 
sold  or  transferred  as  persons  separate  from  the  land";  the  latter 
"  belonged  personally  to  their  lord,  who  could  sell  or  transfer  them 
at  will."  The  bordarii,  bordars,  or  cottagers,  "seem  to  have  been 
distinguished  from  the  villeins  simply  by  their  smaller  holdings." 
For  the  menial  services  rendered  by  the  villeins,  and  their  condi- 
tion generally,  see  the  following  pages. 

Page  32. — A  chantry.  A  church  or  a  chapel  (as  here)  en- 
dowed with  lands  or  other  revenues  for  the  maintenance  of  one  or 
more  priests  to  sing  or  say  mass  daily  for  the  soul  of  the  donor  or 
the  souls  of  persons  named  by  him.  Cf.  Henry  V.  iv.  I.  318  : — 

"  I  have  built 

Two  chantries,  where  the  sad  and  solemn  priests 
Sing  still  for  Richard's  soul." 

Page  4-0. — Present  her  at  the  leet,  etc.  Complain  of  her  for 
using  common  stone  jugs  instead  of  the  quart-pots  duly  sealed  or 
stamped  as  being  of  legal  size. 

A  substantial  ducking-stool,  etc.  The  ducking-stool  was  kept  up 
as  a  punishment  for  scolds  in  some  parts  of  England  until  late  in  the 
1 8th  century.  An  antiquary,  writing  about  1780,  tells  of  seeing  it 
used  at  Magdalen  bridge  in  Cambridge.  He  says:  "The  chair 
hung  by  a  pulley  fastened  to  a  beam  about  the  middle  of  the 
bridge  ;  and  the  woman  having  b»en  fastened  in  the  chair,  she  was 
let  under  water  three  times  successively,  and  then  taken  out.  .  ,  . 
The  ducking-stool  was  constantly  hanging  in  its  place,  and  on  the 
back  panel  of  it  was  an  engraving  representing  devils  laying  hold 
of  scolds.  Some  time  after,  a  new  chair  was  erected  in  the  place 
of  the  old  one,  having  the  same  device  carved  on  it,  and  well 
painted  and  ornamented." 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  217 

Page  41. — Butts.  Places  for  the  practice  of  archery,  the  butts 
being  properly  the  targets. 

Page  45. — Pinfold.  Shakespeare  uses  the  word  in  The  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona  (i.  i.  114):  "  I  mean  the  pound — a  pinfold"; 
and  in  Lear  (ii.  2.  9):  "in  Lipsbury  pinfold."  It  was  so  called 
because  stray  beasts  were  pinned  or  shut  up  in  it. 

Page  46. — One  ^vagon  tract.  That  is,  track.  Tract  in  this 
sense  is  obsolete. 

Page  49, — In  which  William  Shakespeare  was  probably  born. 
We  have  no  positive  information  on  this  point ;  but  we  know  that 
John  Shakespeare  resided  in  Henley  Street  in  1552,  and  that  he 
became  the  owner  of  this  house  at  some  time  before  1590.  The 
tradition  that  this  was  the  poet's  birthplace  is  ancient  and  has  never 
been  disproved.  Mr.  Halliwell-Phillipps,  one  of  the  most  careful 
and  conservative  of  critics,  says:  "There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
from  the  earliest  period  at  which  we  have,  or  are  likely  to  have,  a 
record  of  the  fact,  it  was  the  tradition  of  Stratford  that  the  birth- 
place is  correctly  so  designated";  and  he  himself  accepts  the  tradi- 
tion as  almost  certainly  founded  upon  fact. 

The  cut  facing  page  50,  like  that  facing  page  56,  gives  an  idea  of 
the  interior  appearance  of  these  old  houses.  The  room  in  which 
tradition  says  that  Shakespeare  was  born  is  the  front  room  on  the 
second  floor  (what  English  people  call  the  "first  floor  "),  at  the, left- 
hand  side  of  the  house  as  seen  in  the  cut  on  page  49. 

In  the  other  cut  (the  interior  of  the  cottage  in  which  Anne  Hath- 
away, whom  Shakespeare  married,  is  said  to  have  lived  at  Shottery) 
the  very  large  old-fashioned  fire-place  is  to  be  noted.  Persons 
could  actually  sit  "  in  the  chimney  corner,"  like  the  woman  in  the 
picture.  The  grate  is  a  modern  addition. 

Page  51. — New  Place.  Sir  Hugh  Clopton,  for  whom  this 
mansion  was  erected,  speaks  of  it  in  1496  as  his  "great  house,"  a 
title  by  which  it  was  commonly  known  at  Stratford  for  more  than 
two  centuries.  Shakespeare  bought  it  in  1597  for  £60,  a  moderate 
price  for  so  large  a  property ;  but  in  a  document  of  the  time  of 
Edward  VI.  it  is  described  as  having  been  for  some  time  "  in  great 
ruin  and  decay  and  unrepaired,"  and  it  was  probably  in  a  dilapi- 
dated condition  when  it  was  transferred  to  Shakespeare.  It  had 
been  sold  by  the  Clopton  family  in  1563,  and  in  1567  came  into 
the  possession  of  William  Underbill,  whose  family  continued  to 
hold  it  until  Shakespeare  bought  it.  He  left  it  by  his  will  to  his 
daughter  Susanna,  who  had  married  Dr.  John  Hall,  and  who  prob- 
ably occupied  it  until  her  death  in  1649,  when  she  had  been  a 


218  NOTES 

widow  for  fourteen  years.  The  estate  descended  to  her  daughter 
Elizabeth,  who  was  first  married  to  Thomas  Nash,  and  afterwards 
to  Sir  Thomas  Barnard.  In  1675  it  was  sold  again,  and  was  ulti- 
mately re-purchased  by  the  Clopton  family.  Sir  John  Clopton  re- 
built the  house  early  in  the  next  century,  and  it  was  subsequently 
occupied  by  another  Hugh  Clopton.  He  died  in  1751,  and  in  1756 
the  estate  was  sold  to  Rev.  Francis  Gastrell,  who  pulled  the  house 
down  in  1759,  on  account  of  a  quarrel  with  the  town  authorities 
concerning  the  taxes  levied  upon  it.  The  year  before  (1758)  he 
had  cut  down  Shakespeare's  mulberry-tree,  in  order,  as  tradition 
says,  to  save  himself  the  trouble  of  showing  it  to  visitors.  The 
Stratford  people  were  indignant  at  this  act  of  vandalism.  Mr. 
Halliwell-Phillipps  says  that  an  old  inhabitant  of  the  town  told 
him  that  his  father,  when  a  boy,  "assisted  in  breaking  Gastrell's 
windows  in  revenge  for  the  fall  of  the  tree."  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  some  injustice  has  been  done  the  reverend  gentleman. 
Davies,  in  his  Life  of  Carrie k  (1780),  asserts  that  Gastrell  disliked 
the  tree  "because  it  overshadowed  his  window,  and  rendered  the 
house,  as  he  thought,  subject  to  damps  and  moisture."  There  is 
also  some  evidence  that  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  which  was  now  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  old  and  grown  to  a  great  size,  had  begun 
to  decay.  That  Gastrell  was  not  indifferent  to  the  poetical  asso- 
ciations of  the  tree  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  kept  relics  of  it, 
his  widow  having  presented  one  to  the  Lichfield  Museum  in  1778. 
It  is  described  in  a  catalogue  (1786)  of  .the  museum  as  "an  hori- 
zontal section  of  the  stock  of  the  mulberry-tree  planted  by  Shake- 
speare at  Stratford-upon-Avon." 

Page  52. —  William  Harrison.  An  English  clergyman,  of  whose 
history  we  know  little  except  that  he  was  born  in  London,  became 
rector  of  Radwinter,  Essex,  and  canon  of  Windsor,  wrote  a  De- 
scription of  Britaine  and  England  and  other  historical  books,  and 
probably  died  in  1592.  His  detailed  account  of  the  state  of  Eng- 
land and  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people  in  the  i6th  cen- 
tury is  particularly  valuable. 

Page  §L~Strewn  with  rushes.  There  are  many  allusions  to 
this  in  Shakespeare.  In  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (\v.  I.  48),  when 
Petruchio  is  coming  home,  Grumio  asks  :  "Is  supper  ready,  the 
house  trimmed,  rushes  strewed,  cobwebs  swept  ?"  Compare  Romeo 
and  Juliet,  i.  4.  36  :  "  Tickle  the  senseless  rushes  with  their  heels" 
(that  is,  in  dancing)  ;  Cymbeline,  ii.  2.  13  : — 

"  Our  Tarquin  thus 
Did  softly  press  the  rushes,"  etc. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  219 

Page  55. —  Thomas  Coryat,  born  in '1577  and  educated  at 
Oxford,  was  celebrated  for  his  pedestrian  journeys  on  the  Con- 
tinent of  Europe.  In  1608  he  travelled  through  France,  Ger- 
many, and  Italy,  "walking  1975  miles,  more  than  half  of  which 
were  accomplished  in  one  pair  of  shoes,  which  were  only  once 
mended,  and  on  his  return  were  hung  up  in  the  Church  of  Od- 
combe."  Of  this  tour  he  wrote  an  account  entitled  "  Coryat's 
Crudities  hastily  gobled  up  in  five  months'  Travels  in  France," 
etc.  He  died  at  Surat  in  1617,  after  explorations  in  Greece, 
Egypt,  and  India. 

Page  &$.—Bttllein.  William  Bullein,  or  Bulleyn,  born  about 
1500,  was  a  learned  physician  and  botanist.  His  Government  of 
Health  was  very  popular  in  its  day.  He  wrote  several  other  books 
of  medicine.  He  died  in  1576. 

Page  57. — His  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.  Of  this  famous  work, 
written  by  Robert  Burton  (1577-1640),  Dr.  Johnson  said  that  it 
was  ' '  the  only  book  that  ever  took  me  out  of  bed  two  hours 
sooner  than  I  wished  to  rise." 

Page  60. — Francis  Seager.  Of  his  personal  history,  as  of  that 
of  Hugh  Rhodes,  nothing  of  importance  is  known. 

Page  01. — He  is  then  to  make  low  curtsy.  This  form  of  obei- 
sance was  used  by  both  sexes  in  Shakespeare's  day.  Cf.  2  Henry 
IV.  ii.  i.  135  :  "  if  a  man  will  make  courtesy  and  say  nothing,  he 
is  virtuous";  and  the  epilogue  to  the  same  play  :  "  First  my  fear, 
then  my  courtesy,  last  my  speech."  Curtsy  is  a  modern  spelling 
of  the  word  in  this  sense. 

Page  62. — Caraways.  The  word  occurs  once  in  Shakespeare 
(2  Henry  IV.  v.  3.  3  :  "a  dish  of  caraways"),  where  it  probably 
has  the  same  meaning  as  here  ;  but  some  have  thought  that  the 
reference  is  to  a  variety  of  apple. 

Page  63. —  Treatably.  Tractably,  smoothly.  Cf.  Marston, 
What  You  Will,  ii.  I  :  "  Not  too  fast  ;  say  [recite]  treatably." 

Much  f order.  We  find  d  and  th  used  interchangeably  in  many 
words  in  old  writers  ;  as  fadom  and  fathom,  murder  and  murther, 
etc. 

Page  64. — To  charge  thee  with  than.  We  find  than  for  then  in 
Shakespeare,  Lucrece,  1440  : — 

"  To  Simois'  reedy  banks  the  red  blood  ran, 
Whose  waves  to  imitate  the  battle  sought 
With  swelling  ridges;  and  their  ranks  began 
To  break  upon  the  galled  shore,  and  than 
Retire  again,"  etc. 


220  NOTES 

Here,  it  will  be  seen,  the  word  rhymes  with  ran  and  began.  On 
the  other  hand,  than  in  the  early  eds.  of  Shakespeare  and  other 
writers  of  the  time  is  generally  then. 

Page  65. —  Utterly  detest.  That  is,  detested.  The  omission  of 
-ed  in  the  participles  of  verbs  ending  in  d  and  /  (or  te)  was  formerly 
not  uncommon  in  prose  as  well  as  poetry.  Cf.  Bacon,  Essay  16  : 
"  Their  means  are  less  exhaust  ";  and  Essay  38  :  "  They  have  de- 
generate." See  also  Richard  III.  iii.  7.  179:  "For  first  was  he 
contract  to  Lady  Lucy,"  etc. 

Page  66. —  To  enter  children.  To  begin  their  training.  The 
word  is  now  obsolete  in  this  sense  of  introducing  to,  or  initiating 
into,  anything.  Cf.  Ben  Jonson,  Epicozne,  iii.  I  :  "  I  am  bold  to 
enter  these  gentlemen  in  your  acquaintance";  Walton,  Complete 
Angler  :  "to  enter  you  into  the  art  of  fishing,"  etc. 

Thorow.  Thorough  and  through  were  originally  the  same  word, 
and  we  find  them  and  their  derivatives  used  interchangeably  in 
Shakespeare  and  other  old  writers.  Cf.  A  Midsummer- Nighfs 
Dream,  ii.  I.  3  :  — 

"  Over  hill,  over  dale, 

Thorough  bush,  thorough  brier, 
Over  park,  over  pale, 
Thorough  flood,  thorough  fire." 

So  we  find  thoroughly  and  throughly  {Hamlet,  iv.  5.  36,  etc.), 
thoroughfares  and  through/ares  {Merchant  of  Venice,  ii.  7.  42,  etc.). 

Page  67. — The  Ship  of  Fools.  A  translation  (with  original 
modifications)  of  the  Narrenschiff  of  Sebastian  Brandt  (or  Brant), 
a  German  satire  (1494)  upon  the  follies  of  different  classes  of  men. 
It  was  made  in  1508  by  Alexander  Barclay,  who  died  at  an  ad- 
vanced age  in  1552.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  became  a  priest, 
and  was  vicar  of  several  parishes  in  England  before  he  was  pro- 
moted to  that  of  All  Saints,  Lombard  Street,  London,  a  few  weeks 
previous  to  his  death.  The  Ship  of  Fools  was  the  first  English 
book  in  which  any  mention  is  made  of  the  New  World. 

Strutt.  Joseph  Strutt  (1742-1802)  was  an  eminent  English  anti- 
quarian, who  wrote  several  valuable  works  in  that  line  of  literature 
and  others.  The  first  edition  of  his  Sports  and  Pastimes  of  the 
People  of  England  appeared  in  1801. 

Page  69.—  Taylor  the  Water-Poet.  John  Taylor  (1580-1654), 
a  waterman  who  afterwards  became  a  collector  of  wine  duties  in 
London.  He  wrote  much  in  prose  and  verse,  and  was  very  popular 
in  his  day. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  221 

Page  70. —  Dr.  John  Jones.  A  physician,  who  practised  at 
Bath  and  Buxton,  England,  and  wrote  a  number  of  medical  works 
between  1556  and  1579. 

Page  71. — No  other  clear  allusion  to  the  game,  etc.  Some  critics 
have  thought  there  may  be  a  punning  allusion  to  the  stale-mate  of 
chess  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  i.  i.  58  :  "  To  make  a  stale 
of  me  among  these  mates";  but  this  is  doubtful. 

Page  73. — She  was  pinch d.  The  she  is  used  in  a  demonstra- 
tive sense,  referring  to  one  of  the  company  (this  maid),  as  he  (that 
man)  is  in  the  next  line.  The  Friar  is  the  Friar  Rush  of  the  fairy 
mythology,  whom  Milton  seems  here  to  identify  with  Jack-o'-the- 
Lantern,  or  Will- o'-the-  Wisp,  the  luminous  appearance  sometimes 
seen  in  marshy  places  ;  but  Friar  Rush,  according  to  Keightley, 
"  haunted  houses,  not  fields,  and  was  never  the  same  with  Jack-o'- 
the-Lantern." 

Page  74. — 7" he  drudging  goblin*  Robin  Goodfellow,  the  Puck 
of  Shakespeare.  Cf.  A  Midsummer- Night's  Dream,  ii,  I.  40 : — 

"  They  that  Hobgoblin  call  you  and  sweet  Puck, 
You  do  their  work,  and  they  shall  have  good  luck." 

To  bed  they  creep.  Somewhat  reluctantly  and  timidly  after  the 
stories  of  fairies  and  goblins. 

Charles  Knight.  An  English  publisher  and  author  (1791-1873), 
one  of  the  leading  editors  and  biographers  of  Shakespeare. 

Page  75. —  William  Painter.  He  was  born  in  England  about 
1537,  and  died  about  1594.  He  studied  at  Cambridge  in  1554, 
and  in  1561  was  made  cleric  of  the  ordnance  in  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don. In  1566  he  published  the  first  volume  of  The  Palace  of 
Pleastire,  containing  sixty  tales  from  Latin,  French,  and  Italian 
authors.  The  second  volume  (1567)  contained  thirty-four  tales. 
In  later  editions  six  more  were  added,  making  a  hundred  in  all. 
The  collection  is  the  source  from  which  Shakespeare  and  other 
Elizabethan  dramatists  drew  many  of  their  plots. 

Page  70. — Giletta  of  Narbonne.  The  story  dramatized  by 
Shakespeare  in  All 's  Well  that  Ends  Well. 

Page  77. —  The  "  Gesta  Romanorum"  A  popular  collection  of 
stories  in  Latin,  compiled  late  in  the  I3th  or  early  in  the  I4th  cen- 
tury, and  often  reprinted  and  translated.  The  two  stories  (of  the 
caskets  and  of  the  bond)  combined  in  the  Merchant  of  Venice  are 
found  in  it ;  and  also  the  story  of  Theodosius  and  his  daughters, 
which  is  like  that  of  Lear,  though  Shakespeare  did  not  take  the 
plot  of  that  tragedy  directly  from  it. 


222  NOTES 

Page  78. —  The  trumpet  to  the  morn.  The  trumpeter  that  an- 
nounces the  coming  of  day.  Trumpet  in  this  sense  occurs  several 
times  in  Shakespeare  ;  as  in  Henry  V.  iv.  2.  61  :  "I  will  the  ban- 
ner from  a  trumpet  take,"  etc. 

Extravagant  and  erring.  Both  words  are  used  in  their  etymo- 
logical sense  of  wandering.  Extravagant  is,  literally,  wandering 
beyond  (its  proper  confine,  or  limit). 

Arden.  There  was  a  Forest  of  Arden  in  Warwickshire  as  well 
as  on  the  Continent  in  the  northeastern  part  of  France.  Drayton, 
in  his  Matilda  (1594),  speaks  of  "  Sweet  Arden's  nightingales,"  etc. 

The  ringlets  of  their  dance.  The  "  fairy  rings,"  so  called,  which 
were  supposed  to  be  made  by  their  dancing  on  the  grass.  In  The 
Tempest  (v.  i.  37)  Prospero  refers  to  them  thus,  in  his  apostrophe 
to  the  various  classes  of  spirits  over  whom  he  has  control : — 

"  You  demi-puppets  that 

By  moonshine  do  the  green  sour  ringlets  make 
Whereof  the  ewe  not  bites." 

Dr.  Grey,  in  his  Notes  on  Shakespeare,  says  that  they  are  "higher, 
sourer,  and  of  a  deeper  green  than  the  grass  which  grows  round 
them."  They  were  long  a  mystery  even  to  scientific  men,  but  are 
now  known  to  be  due  to  the  spreading  of  a  kind  of  agaricum,  or 
fungus,  which  enriches  the  ground  by  its  decay. 

Who  tasted  the  honey-bag  of  the  bee,  etc.  All  these  allusions  to 
the  fairies  are  suggested'  by  passages  in  A  Midsummer-Night 's 
Dream.  The  cankers  are  canker-worms,  as  often  in  Shakespeare. 

Page  79. — A  laund.  An  open  space  in  a  forest.  See  3  Henry 
VI.  iii.  i.  2  :  "  For  through  this  laund  anon  the  deer  will  come," 
etc.  Lawn  is  a  corruption  of  laund. 

Page  80.  —  Who  had  command  over  the  spirits,  etc.  Like 
Prospero  in  The  Tempest. 

Vervain  and  dill.  These  were  among  the  plants  supposed  to  be 
used  by  witches  in  their  charms  ;  but  many  such  plants  were  also 
believed  to  be  efficacious  as  counter-charms,  or  means  of  protection 
against  witchcraft.  Vervain  was  called  "  the  enchanter's  plant," 
on  account  of  its  magic  potency  ;  but  Aubrey  says  that  it  "  hinders 
witches  from  their  wills,"  and  Drayton  refers  to  it  as  "'gainst 
witchcraft  much  availing." 

Page  81. — The  ancient  font  represented  in  the  cut  was  in  use 
in  the  Stratford  Church  until  about  the  middle  of  the  iyth  century. 
Shakespeare  was  doubtless  baptized  at  it. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  223 

82. — John  Stow.  A  noted  English  antiquarian  and  his- 
torian (1525-1604).  His  Sui-vey  of  London  (1598)  is  the  standard 
authority  on  old  London. 

Page  83. — The  calendars  of  their  nativity.  Referring  to  the 
twin  Dromios,  who  were  born  at  the  same  time  with  the  twin  chil- 
dren of  the  Abbess,  who  is  really  Emilia,  the  long-lost  wife  of 
Egeus.  By  a  similar  figure  Antipholus  of  Syracuse  (i.  2.  41)  says 
of  Dromio,  "  Here  comes  the  almanac  of  my  true  date." 

Caraways.  See  on  page  62  above.  Marmalet  is  an  obsolete  form 
of  marmalade.  Marchpane  was  a  kind  of  almond -cake,  much 
esteemed  in  the  time  of  Shakespeare.  Compare  Romeo  and  Ju- 
liet, i.  5.  9  :  "  Good  thou,  save  me  a  piece  of  marchpane."  Sweet- 
suckers  are  dried  sweetmeats  or  sugar-plums,  also  called  suckets, 
succades,  etc. 

Page  85. —  Wote.  Know  ;  more  commonly  written  wot.  It  is 
the  first  and  third  persons  singular,  indicative  present,  of  the  obso- 
lete verb  wit.  Unweeting  (unwitting),  unknowing  or  unconscious, 
is  from  the  same  vepb. 

Page  86. —  Thomas  Lupton.  He  wrote  several  books  besides 
his  Thousand  Notable  Things,  which  was  a  collection  of  medical 
recipes,  stories,  etc.  Little  is  known  of  his  personal  history. 

Robert  Heron.  He  was  a  Scotchman  (1764-1807),  who  wrote 
books  of  travel,  geography,  history,  etc. 

Warlocks.  Persons  supposed  to  be  in  league  with  the  devil  ; 
sorcerers  or  wizards. 

Page  87. — Beshrew.  Originally  a  mild  imprecation  of  evil, 
but  often  used  playfully,  as  here.  Compare  the  similar  modern 
use  of  confound,  which  originally  meant  ruin  or  destroy  ;  as  in 
the  Merchant  of  Venice,  iii.  2.  271  :  "  So  keen  and  greedy  to  con- 
found a  man,"  etc. 

Page  %%,—Astrologaster.  The  full  title  was  "  The  Astrolo- 
gaster,  or  the  Figurecaster :  Rather  the  Arraignment  of  Artless 
Astrologers  and  Fortune  Tellers." 

Page  89. — In  the  following  form.  There  were  other  forms, 
but  this  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  potent.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  word,  as  here  arranged,  can  be  read  in  various  ways  ;  as,  for 
instance,  following  each  line  to  the  end  and  then  up  the  right-hand 
side  of  the  triangle,  etc.  An  old  writer,  after  giving  directions  to 
write  the  word  in  this  triangular  form,  adds  :  "  Fold  the  paper  so 
as  to  conceal  the  writing,  and  stitch  it  into  the  form  of  a  cross 
with  white  thread.  This  amulet  wear  in  the  bosom,  suspended  by 
a  linen  ribbon,  for  nine  days.  Then  go  in  dead  silence,  before  sun- 


224  NOTES 

rise,  to  the  bank  of  a  stream  that  flows  eastward,  take  the  amulet 
from  off  the  neck,  and  fling  it  backwards  into  the  water.  If  you 
open  or  read  it,  the  charm  is  destroyed."  It  was  thought  to  be  ef- 
ficacious for  the  cure  of  fevers,  "especially  quartan  and  semi-tertian 
agues." 

Thomas  Lodge.  He  was  born  about  1556,  and  died  in  1625, 
and  wrote  plays,  novels,  songs,  translations,  etc.  His  Rosalynde 
(1590)  furnished  Shakespeare  with  the  plot  of  As  You  Like  It. 

Page  90. — Robert  Greene  (1560-1592)  was  a  popular  dramatist, 
novelist,  and  poet  in  his  day.  In  his  Groatsiuorth  of  Wit  (pub- 
lished in  1592,  after  his  death)  he  attacked  the  rising  Shakespeare 
as  "an  upstart  crow,"  who  was  "in  his  own  conceit  the  only 
Shake-scene  in  a  country."  Shakespeare  afterwards  took  the  story 
of  The  Winter  s  Tale  from  Greene's  Pandosto,  or  Dorastus  and 
Fawnia,  as  it  was  subsequently  entitled. 

Webster  s  White  Devil.  John  Webster,  who  wrote  in  the  early 
part  of  the  I7th  century,  was  a  dramatist  noted  for  his  tragedies, 
among  which  The  White  Devil  (1612)  is  reckoned  one  of  the  best. 
Of  his  biography  nothing  worth  mentioning  is  known. 

Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.     See  on  page  57  above. 

Reginald  Scot,  who  died  in  1599,  is  chiefly  known  by  his  Dis- 
coverie  of  Witchcraft,  the  main  facts  concerning  which  are  given 
here. 

Page  91. —  Wierus.  The  Latin  form  of  the  name  of  Weier,  a 
German  physician,  who  in  1563  published  a  book  (De  Prcestigiis 
Demonuni)  in  which  the  general  belief  in  magic  and  witchcraft  was 
attacked. 

We  infer  that  Shakespeare  had  read  Scot's  book.  However  this 
may  be,  we  are  sure  that  he  had  read  a  book  by  Dr.  Samuel  Hars- 
net  (1561-1631)  entitled  Declaration  of  Egregious  Popish  Impos- 
tures, etc.,  under  the  pretence  of  casting  out  devils  (1603),  from 
which  he  took  the  names  of  some  of  the  devils  in  Lear  (iii.  4). 

Page  96. — Henry  Peacham.  "A  travelling  tutor,  musician, 
painter,  and  author,"  who  wrote  on  drawing  and  painting,  eti- 
quette, education,  etc.  His  father,  whose  name  was  the  same,  was 
also  an  author,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  certain  books  were  writ- 
ten by  him  or  by  his  son. 

Roger  Ascham  (1515-1568)  was  a  noted  classical  scholar 
and  author.  He  was  tutor  to  Elizabeth  (1548-1550),  and  Latin 
Secretary  to  Mary  and  Elizabeth  (1553-1568).  His  chief  works 
were  the  Toxophilus  (1545)  and  the  Sc hole master  (see  page  115 
below). 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  225 

97t — Took  on  him  as  a  conjurer.  Pretended  to  be  a  con- 
jurer. Compare  2  Henry  IV.  iv.  I.  60  :  "I  take  not  on  me  here 
as  a  physician." 

Page  98. — Who  could  speak  Latin,  etc.  Latin,  the  language  of 
the  church,  was  used  in  exorcising  spirits.  Compare  Hamlet  (i.  i. 
42),  where,  on  the  appearance  of  the  Ghost,  Marcellus  says  :  "  Thou 
art  a  scholar;  speak  to  it,  Horatio."  So  in  Much  Ado  About 
Nothing  (ii.  i.  264),  Benedick,  after  comparing  Beatrice  to  "the 
infernal  Ate,"  adds:  "  I  would  to  God  some  scholar  would  conjure 
her  !"  See  also  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  The  Night  -  Walker,  ii.  i : — 

"  Let  's  call  the  butler  up,  for  he  speaks  Latin, 
And  that  will  daunt  the  devil." 

Page  99» — Transparent  horn.  Used  to  protect  the  paper,  as 
explained  in  the  quotation  from  Shenstone  on  page  101.  The  horn- 
book was  really  "of  stature  small,"  the  figure  on  page  100  being  of 
the  exact  size  of  the  specimen  described.  One  delineated  by  Mr. 
Halliwell-Phillipps  is  of  about  the  same  size.  See  Chambers's 
Book  of  Days,  vol.  i.  p.  46. 


INTERIOR    OF   GRAMMAR  SCHOOL,   BEFORE    THE    RESTORATION 


226  NOTES 

Page  101. — Shenstone.  William  Shenstone  (1714-1763)  was 
educated  at  Pembroke  College,  Oxford.  His  best-known  work  is 
The  Schoolmistress. 

Page  102. —  The  modest  plastered  ceiling,  etc.  This  has  been 
removed  within  the  past  few  years.  Its  appearance  before  the 
restoration  is  shown  in  the  cut  (from  ¥^\\\<gti(.\ Biography  of  Shak- 
spere). 

Page  103. — Sententia  Puerilcs.  •  Literally,  Boyish  Sentences, 
or  Sentences  for  Boys. 

Sir  Htigh  Evans.  The  title  of  Sir  (equivalent  to  the  Latin 
dominus)  was  given  to  priests.  The  "hedge-priest"  in  As  You 
Like  It(\\\.  3)  is  called  "  Sir  Oliver  Martext."  In  Twelfth  Night 
(iii.  4.  298)  Viola  says:  "  I  had  rather  go  with  sir  priest  than  sir 
knight." 

'Od's  nouns.  Probably  a  corruption  of  "God's  wounds,"  which 
is  also  contracted  into  Swounds  and  Zounds.  So  we  find  "od's 
heartlings,"  "od's  pity,"  etc.  Dame  Quickly  confounds  W  and 
odd. 

Page  104. — Articles.  Sir  Hugh  uses  the  word  in  the  sense  of 
"  demonstratives."  This  shows  that  the  Accidence  mentioned  above 
as  the  book  from  which  Shakespeare  got  his  first  lessons  in  Latin 
(as  Halliwell-Phillipps  and  other  authorities  state)  gave  some  of 
the  elementary  facts  in  precisely  the  same  form  in  which  they  ap- 
pear in  the  Latin  Grammar  written  in  English  and  published  in 
1574  with  the  title,  "  A  Short  Introduction  of  Grammar,  generally 
to  be  used  :  compiled  and  set  forth  for  the  bringing  up  of  all  those 
that  intend  to  attaine  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Latine  Tongue." 
I  transcribe  this  from  the  edition  published  at  Oxford  in  1651  (a 
copy  in  the  Harvard  University  library,  which  appears  to  be  the 
one  studied  by  President  Ezra  Stiles  when  he  was  a  boy).  In  this 
book  (page  3),  under  the  head  of  "  Articles,"  we  read  : — 

"Articles  are  borrowed  of  the  Pronoune,  and  be  thus  declined  : 

f  Nomin.  hie,  hczc,  hoc.  ~\  f  Nomin.   hi,  JUE,  h<zc. 

£    I    Genetivo  hujus.  \  •-'  j    Gen.  horum,  harum,  horn  in. 

£3     \   Dativo  huic.  I  ^  \    Dativo  his. 

'gl   Ace.  Imnc,  hanc,  hoc.  f  E  1    A  ecus,  hos,  has,  hue. 

.5    j    Vocativo  caret.  -.  £        Vocativo  caret. 

^    (_  Ablativo  hoc,  hac,  hoc.  }  [_  Ablativo  his." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  names  of  the  cases  are  in  Latin,  as  in 
Shakespeare.     He  may  have  used  this  very  grammar. 

Hang-h0g  is  Latin  for  Bacon.     Suggested  by  the  hanging  up  of 


SHAKESPEARE   THE  BOY  227 

the  pork  during  the  process  of  curing.  There  is  an  old  story  of 
Sir  Nicholas  Bacon  (father  of  the  philosopher),  who  was  a  judge. 
A  criminal  whom  he  was  about  to  sentence  begged  mercy  on 
account  of  kinship.  "Prithee,  said  my  lord,  how  came  that  in? 
Why,  if  it  please  you,  my  lord,  your  name  is  Bacon  and  mine  is 
Hog,  and  in  all  ages  Hog  and  Bacon  are  so  near  kindred  that  they 
are  not  to  be  separated.  Ay,  but,  replied  the  judge,  you  and  I 
cannot  be  of  kindred  unless  you  be  hanged  ;  for  Hog  is  not  Bacon 
till  it  be  well  hanged." 

Leave  your  prabbles.  That  is,  your  brabbles.  The  word  literally 
means  quarrels  or  broils;  as  in  Twelfth  Night,  v.  I.  68  :  "In 
private  brabble  did  we  apprehend  him."  Sir  Hugh  uses  it  loosely 
with  reference  to  the  Dame's  interruptions  and  criticisms. 

O  ! — vocativo,  0  !  The  boy  hesitates,  trying  to  recall  the  voca- 
tive, but  Sir  Hugh  reminds  him  that  it  is  wanting — caret  in  Latin, 
which  suggests  carrot  to  the  Dame.  The  O  is  suggested  by  its  use 
before  the  vocative  case  of  nouns  in  the  paradigms  in  the  Acci- 
dence^ which  probably  here  also  agrees  with  the  Short  Introduc- 
tion, where  in  the  first  declension  we  find:  "  Vocati-vo  6  musa"  ; 
in  the  second  :  "  Vocativo  d  magister"  etc. 

William  Lilly  (or  Lily),  the  author  of  the  Latin  Grammar  men- 
tioned on  page  105,  was  born  about  1468  and  died  in  1523.  He 
was  an  eminent  scholar  and  the  first  master  of  St.  Paul's  School, 
London.  His  Grammar  (written  in  Latin)  was  entitled  "  Brevis- 
sima  Institutio,  seu,  Ratio  Grammatices  cognoscendae,  ad  omnium 
puerorum  utilitatem  praescripta."  Of  this  book  more  than  three 
hundred  editions  were  printed,  the  latest  mentioned  by  Allibone 
(who,  by  the  way,  gives  the  title  of  the  Grammar  in  an  imperfect 
and  ungrammatical  form)  having  been  issued  in  1817.  A  copy  of 
the  1651  edition  is  bound  with  the  Short  Introduction  of  the  same 
date  in  the  Harvard  Library.  Lilly  was  the  author  of  both. 

You  must  be  preeches.  That  is,  you  must  be  breeched,  or  flogged. 
Compare  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (iii.  i.  18),  where  Bianca  says 
to  her  teachers  :  "I  am  no  breeching  scholar  in  the  schools." 

Sprag.  That  is,  sprack,  which  meant  quick,  ready.  The  word 
is  Scotch,  as  well  as  Provincial  English,  and  Scott  uses  it  in 
Waverley  (chap,  xliii.) :  "all  this  fine  sprack  [lively]  festivity  and 
jocularity." 

Page  105. — A  passage  from  Terence.  In  the  play,  as  in  the 
Grammar,  it  reads:  "  Redime  te  captum  quam  queas  minimo." 
The  original  Latin  is  :  "  Quid  agas,  nisi  ut  te  redimas  captum,"  etc. 

Page  106. — Richard  Mulcaster.     The  poet  Spenser  was  one  of 


228  NOTES 

his  pupils  at  Merchant-Taylors  School  in  1568  see(Church's  Spenser 
in  "  English  Men  of  Letters"  series).  In  1596  Mulcaster  became 
master  of  St.  Paul's  School.  He  died  in  1611.  The  title  of  the 
book  quoted  here  was  7"he  First  Part  of  the  Elementarie  .  .  .  of 
the  Right  Writing  of  our  English  Tung.  The  author's  theory 
was  better  than  his  practice,  as  the  specimen  of  his  "right  writing " 
given  here  will  suffice  to  show.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  his  oral 
style  was  less  clumsy  and  involved. 

Correctors  for  the  print.  Whether  this  refers  to  persons  correct- 
ing manuscript  for  the  press  or  to  proof-readers  is  doubtful,  but 
probably  the  former.  Some  have  denied  that  there  was  any  proof- 
reading in  the  Elizabethan  age ;  but  variations  in  copies  of  the 
same  edition  of  a  book  (the  First  Folio  of  Shakespeare,  published 
in  1623,  for  instance)  prove  that  corrections  in  the  text  were  some- 
times made  even  after  the  printing  had  begun.  The  author  also 
sometimes  did  some  proof-reading.  At  the  end  of  Beeton's  Will 
of  Wit  (1599)  we  find  this  note :  "  What  faults  are  escaped  in  the 
printing,  finde  by  discretion,  and  excuse  the  author,  by  other 
worke  that  let  [hindered]  him  from  attendance  to  the  presse." 

Rip  up.     That  is,  analyze. 

Page  107. — The  natural  English.  That  is,  natives  of  Eng- 
land. 

Will  not  yield  flat  to  theirs.     Will  not  conform  exactly  to  theirs. 

Page  108» — Bewrayeth.  Shows,  makes  known.  Cf.  Proverbs, 
xxvii.  16;  Matthew,  xxvi.  73. 

Enfranchisement.  This  evidently  refers  to  the  "  naturalization  " 
of  foreign  words  taken  into  the  language,  or  making  their  orthog- 
raphy conform  to  English  usage. 

Prerogative,  etc.  This  paragraph  is  somewhat  obscure  at  first 
reading  ;  but  it  appears  to  mean  that  common  use,  or  established 
usage,  settles  certain  questions  concerning  which  there  might  other- 
wise be  some  doubt. 

Likes  the  pen.  Suits  the  pen.  Compare  Hamlet  ii.  2.  80:  "it 
likes  us  well  "  ;  Henry  V.  iii.  prol.  32  :  "  The  offer  likes  not,"  etc. 

Particularities.     Peculiarities. 

Which  either  cannot  understand,  etc.  The  relative  is  equivalent 
to  -who,  and  refers  to  the  preceding  many.  This  use  of  which  was 
common  in  Shakespeare's  day.  Compare  The  Tempest ',  iii.  I.  6: 
"  The  mistress  which  I  serve,"  etc. 

Or  cannot  entend  to  understand,  etc.  That  is,  cannot  intend  (of 
which  entend  is  an  obsolete  form),  but  the  word  is  here  used  in  a 
sense  which  is  not  recognized  in  the  dictionaries.  The  meaning 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  229 

seems  to  be  that  these  "plain  people"  cannot  understand  a  rule 
either  at  sight  or  after  some  effort  to  comprehend  it,  having  neither 
the  time  nor  the  conceit  (intellect)  to  master  it.  Conceit  in  this 
sense  is  common  in  Shakespeare  and  his  contemporaries.  Com- 
pare 2  Henry  IV.  ii.  4.  263  :  "  He  a  good  wit?  .  .  .  there  's  no 
more  conceit  in  him  than  is  in  a  mallet." 

Page  109. — John  Brinsley  became  master  of  •  the  grammar 
school  at  Ashby-de-la-Zouche  in  1601,  where  he  remained  for  six- 
teen years.  The  full  title  of  his  book  is  Liidus  Literarius,  or  the 
Grammar  Schoole  (1612).  He  writes  much  better  English  than 
Mulcaster,  and  young  people  will  find  no  difficulty  in  understand- 
ing the  passage  quoted  from  him. 

Proceed  in  learning.  That  is,  pursue  their  studies  after  leaving 
the  grammar  school. 

Page  110. — Present  correction.  Immediate  correction,  or  pun- 
ishment. For  this  old  sense  of  pre sent,  compare  2  Henry  IV.  iv. 
3-  80  :- 

"  Send  Colevile  with  his  confederates 
To  York,  to  present  execution." 

Countervail.     Counterbalance,  make  up  for. 

Page  112.—  Willis.  All  that  is  known  of  this  "  R.  Willis"  is 
from  his  autobiography,  the  title  of  which  is,  "  Mount  Tabor,  or 
Private  Exercises  of  a  Penitent  Sinner,  published  in  the  yeare  of 
his  age  75,  anno  Dom.  1639."  He  w>  the  same  person  who  is 
quoted  on  page  161  below. 

Page  113. — His  references  to  schoolboys,  etc.  Perhaps  we  ought 
not  to  lay  much  stress  on  these.  The  description  of  "the  whining 
schoolboy"  is  from  the  "  Seven  Ages"  of  the  cynical  Jaques,  who 
describes  all  these  stages  of  human  life  in  sneering  and  disparaging 
terms  ;  and  the  other  passages  simply  refer  to  the  proverbial  dis- 
like of  boys  to  go  to  school. 

Page  114. —  Thomas  Tusser  (1527? — 1580?)  was  a  poet  and 
writer  on  agriculture.  Besides  his  One  Hundred  Points  of  Good 
Husbandry  (1557),  he  wrote  Five  Hundred  Points  of  Good  Hus- 
bandry, United  to  as  Many  of  Good  Wiferie  (1570),  etc.  He  was 
educated  at  Oxford,  spent  ten  years  at  court,  and  then  settled  on 
a  farm,  where  the  rest  of  his  life  was  passed. 

Page  115. — In  few  of  Shakespeare's  references  to  school  life, 
etc.  See  on  You  must  be  preeches,  page  227  above  ;  and  compare 
Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  ii.  I.  228: — 

"Don  Pedro.     To  be  whipped?     What  's  his  fault? 
Benedick.     The  flat  transgression  of  a  schoolboy,"  etc. 


230  NOTES 


118.  —  A  sanctuary  against  fear.  The  allusion  is  to 
those  sacred  places  in  which  criminals  could  take  refuge  and  be 
exempt  from  arrest.  There  was  such  a  sanctuary  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  Westminster  Abbey,  which  retained  its  privileges  until 
the  dissolution  of  the  monastery,  and  for  debtors  until  1602.  Com- 
pare Richard  III.  (ii.  4.  66),  where  Queen  Elizabeth  says  :  "  Come, 
come,  my  boy  ;  we  will  to  sanctuary." 

Page  VZ&*—Hoodman-blind.  In  All  's  Well  that  Ends  Well 
(iv.  3.  136),  when  Parolles  is  brought  in  blindfolded  to  his  com- 
panions in  arms,  whom  he  supposes  to  be  enemies  that  have  capt- 
ured him,  one  of  them  says  aside,  "  Hoodman  comes." 

Loggats.  When  I  was  at  Amherst  College,  forty  or  more  years 
ago,  we  had  this  same  exercise  under  the  name  of  "  loggerheads"  ; 
but  I  have  not  seen  it  or  heard  of  it  anywhere  else. 

Page  125.  —  The  spirited  description  of  the  horse.  Compare 
page  147  below,  where  it  is  quoted  at  length. 

Page  126.  —  Alexander  Barclay.     See  on  page  67  above. 

Edmund  Waller  (1605-1687)  was  an  English  poet,  who  was  a 
leader  in  the  Long  Parliament,  afterwards  exiled  for  being  con- 
cerned in  Royalist  plots,  returned  to  England  under  Cromwell, 
and  was  a  favorite  at  court  after  the  Reformation. 

Page  127.  —  The  caitch.  Catch  was  another  name  for  tennis. 
Palle-malle,  or  pall-mall  (pronounced  pel-mel'),  was  a  game  in 
which  a  wooden  ball  was  struck  with  a  mallet,  to  drive  it  through 
a  raised  iron  ring  at  the  end  of  an  alley.  It  was  formerly  played 
in  St.  James's  Park,  London,  and  gave  its  name  to  the  street 
known  as  Pall  Mall. 

Bishop  Butler.  Joseph  Butler  (1692-1752),  bishop  of  Bristol 
and  afterwards  of  Durham,  and  author  of  the  famous  Analogy  of 
Religion,  etc.  (1736). 

Gifford.  William  Gifford  (1757-1826),  an  English  critic  and 
satirical  poet,  editor  of  the  Quarterly  Review  from  1809  to  1824. 

Page  130.  —  Mulcaster.     See  on  page  106  above. 

Page  132.  —  At  Kenilworth  in  1575.     See  page  12  above. 

Page  134.  —  A  certain  place  in  Cheshire.  The  story  is  told  of 
Congleton  in  that  county,  but  it  is  denied  by  the  modern  inhabi- 
tants. The  other  place  referred  to  is  Ecclesfield  in  Yorkshire,  and 
I  do  not  know  that  the  statement  concerning  the  pawning  of  the 
Bible  has  been  disputed. 

Page  135.  —  Paris-garden.  It  is  mentioned  in  Henry  VIII. 
(v.  4.  2),  where  the  Porter  of  the  Palace  Yard  says  to  the  crowd  : 
"You'll  leave  your  noise  anon,  ye  rascals  !  do  you  take  the  court 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  231 

for  Parish-garden  ?"  This  was  a  vulgar  pronunciation  of  Paris- 
garden.  The  place  was  noted  for  its  noise  and  disorder. 

Page  130.—  Dean  Colet.  John  Colet  (1456-1519),  dean  of  St. 
Paul's  in  1505.  The  school  was  founded  in  1512. 

Page  138. — Sir  Thomas  More.  The  well-known  English 
author  and  statesman,  born  in  1478,  and  executed  on  Tower  Hill 
in  1535- 

No  planets  strike.  That  is,  exert  a  baleful  influence  ;  an  allu- 
sion to  astrology. 

No  fairy  takes.  Blasts,  or  bewitches.  Compare  The  Merry 
Wives  of  Windsor,  iv.  4.  32  :  "blasts  the  tree  and  takes  the  cat- 
tle," etc. 

Page  140. — It  irks  me.     It  is  irksome  to  me,  troubles  me. 

fool  was  sometimes  used  as  a  term  of  endearment  or  pity. 
Compare  The  Winter  s  Tale  (ii.  i.  18),  where  Hermione  says  to 
her  women  who  are  grieved  at  the  unjust  charge  against  her,  "  Do 
not  weep,  poor  fools  !" 

']L\&  forked  heads  are  heads  of  arrows.  Ascham  refers  to  such  in 
his  Toxophilus. 

Page  141. — A  poor  seqitesterd  stag.  Separated  from  his  com- 
panions. 

Page  145. — Professor  Baynes.  Thomas  Spencer  Baynes  (1823- 
1887),  professor  of  English  Literature  at  the  University  of  St. 
Andrews,  Scotland,  and  editor  of  the  ninth  edition  of  the  Ency- 
clopedia Britannica. 

Page  146. —  The  vaivard  of  the  day.  The  vanguard,  or  early 
part  of  the  day.  Compare  Coriolanus,  i.  6.  53;  "Their  bands 
i'  the  vaward,"  etc. 

Stich  gallant  chiding.  The  verb  chide  often  meant  "  to  make  an 
incessant  noise."  Compare  As  Yon  Like  //,  ii.  i.  7  :  "And  churl- 
ish chiding  of  the  winter's  wind  "  ;  Henry  VIII.  iii.  2.  197  :  "  As 
doth  a  rock  against  the  chiding  flood,"  etc. 

So  flew' d,  so  sanded.  Having  the  same  large  hanging  chaps  and 
the  same  sandy  color. 

Like  bells.      That  is,  like  a  chime  of  bells. 

Tender  well.      Take  good  care  of. 

Emboss1  d  was  a  hunter's  term  for  foaming  at  the  mouth  in  con- 
sequence of  hard  running. 

Brack.  The  word  properly  meant  a  female  hound,  but  came  to 
be  applied  to  a  particular  kind  of  scenting-dog. 

Page  147. — In  the  coldest  fault.  When  the  scent  was  cold- 
est (or  faintest),  and  the  hounds  most  at  fault.  Compare  the 


232  NOTES 

quotation  from  Venus  and  Adonis,  page  150  below  :  "the  cold 
fault." 

He  cried  upon  it  at  the  merest  loss.  He  gave  the  cry  when  the 
scent  seemed  utterly  lost.  See  the  passage  just  referred  to.  Mere 
was  formerly  used  in  the  sense  of  absolute  or  complete.  Compare 
Othello,  ii.  2.  3:  "the  mere  perdition  of  the  Turkish  fleet "  (its 
entire  destruction);  HtnryVIlI.  iii.  2.  329:  "the  mere  undoing 
of  the  kingdom  "  (its  utter  ruin),  etc. 

A  youthful  Work  of  Shakespeare's.  It  was  first  published  in 
1593,  when  he  was  twenty- nine  years  of  age;  and  some  critics 
believe  that  it  was  written  several  years  earlier,  perhaps  before  he 
went  to  London. 

Page  148.—  Glisters.  Glistens.  Both  Shakespeare  and  Milton 
use  glister  several  times,  glisten  not  at  all. 

Told  the  steps.  Counted  them.  Compare  The  Winter's  Tale, 
iv.  4.  185  :  '*  He  sings  several  tunes  faster  than  you'll  tell  money." 
The  teller  in  a  bank  is  so  called  because  he  does  this. 

Page  149. —  The  hairs,  who  ware,  etc.  Who  was  often  used 
where  we  should  use  which,  and  which  (see  on  page  108  above) 
where  we  should  use  who. 

If  yearn  d  my  heart.  That  is,  grieved  it.  Compare  Henry  V. 
iv.  3.  26:  "  It  yearns  me  not  when  men  my  garments  wear,"  etc. 

Page  150. — Jaunting.     Riding  hard. 

Musits.  Holes  (in  fence  or  hedge)  for  creeping  through.  The 
word,  also  spelled  muset,  is  a  diminutive  of  the  obsolete  muse, 
which  means  the  same.  Amaze  here  means  bewilder. 

Wat.     A  familiar  name  for  a  hare,  as  Reynard  for  a  fox,  etc. 

Page  151. — Mr.  John  R.  Wise.     Compare  page  26  above. 

Page  155. — The  cut  is  a  fac-simile  of  one  in  The  Booke  of 
Falconrie  (1575),  by  George  Turbervile,  or  Turberville  (1520?- 
1595?),  an  English  poet,  translator,  and  writer  on  hunting,  hawk- 
ing, etc. 

Page  156. — Cotgrave.  Randle  Cotgrave,  an  English  lexicog- 
rapher, who  died  about  1634.  His  French- English  Dictionary 
(first  published  in  1611)  is  still  valuable  in  the  study  of  French  and 
English  philology. 

Page  159.  — John  Skelton.  An  English  scholar  and  poet,  a 
protege  of  Henry  VII.  and  the  tutor  of  Henry  VIII.  He  was 
born  about  1460,  and  probably  died  in  1529.  "  His  rough  wit 
and  eccentric  character  made  him  the  hero  of  a  book  of  '  merry 
tales.'  " 

Page  160. — Some  in  (heir  horse.      That  is,  their  horses,   the 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  233 

word  here  being  plural.  Plurals  and  possessives  of  nouns  ending 
in  j-sounds  were  often  written  without  the  additional  syllable  in 
the  time  of  Shakespeare.  Cf.  King  John,  ii.  I.  289:  "Sits  on 
his  horse  back  at  mine  hostess'  door";  Merchant  of  Venice,  iv. 
i.  255:  "Are  there  balance  here  to  weigh  the  flesh?"  etc. 

Page  163. — William  Kemp  dancing  the  Morris.  Kemp  was 
a  favorite  comic  actor  in  the  latter  years  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 
He  acted  in  some  of  Shakespeare's  plays  and  in  some  of  Ben  Jon- 
son's,  when  they  were  first  put  upon  the  stage.  In  1599  he  jour- 
neyed from  London  to  Norwich,  dancing  the  Morris  all  the  way. 
The  next  year  he  published  an  account  of  the  exploit,  entitled  The 
Nine  dales  wonder.  The  cut  here  is  a  fac-simile  of  one  on  the 
title-page  of  this  pamphlet.  It  represents  Kemp,  with  his  attend- 
ant, Tom  the  Piper,  playing  on  the  pipe  and  tabor.  They  spent 
four  weeks  on  the  journey,  nine  days  of  which  were  occupied  in  the 
dancing.  At  Chelmsford  the  crowd  assembled  to  receive  them  was 
so  great  that  they  were  an  hour  in  making  their  way  through  it  to 
their  lodgings.  At  this  town  "a  maid  not  passing  fourteen  years 
of  age"  challenged  Kemp  to  dance  the  Morris  with  her  "in  a 
great  large  room,"  and  held  out  a  whole  hour,  at  the  end  of  which 
he  was  "ready  to  lie  down"  from  exhaustion.  On  another  occa- 
sion a  "lusty  country  lass"  wanted  to  try  her  skill  with  him,  and 
"  footed  it  merrily  to  Melford,  being  a  long  mile."  Between  Bury 
and  Thetford  he  performed  the  ten  miles  in  three  hours.  On  por- 
tions of  the  journey  the  roads  were  very  bad,  and  his  dancing  was 
frequently  interrupted  by  the  hospitality  or  importunity  of  the  peo- 
ple along  the  route.  At  Norwich  he  was  received  as  an  honored 
guest  by  the  mayor  of  the  city 

Page  1(>8« — Corresponded  to  our  ^d  of  May.  The  difference 
between  Old  and  New  Style  in  reckoning  dates,  and  the  fact  that 
the  Gregorian  Calendar  (or  New  Style)  was  not  adopted  in  England 
until  1752,  or  nearly  two  hundred  years  after  it  was  accepted  by 
Catholic  nations  on  the  Continent,  have  often  led  historians,  biogra- 
phers, and  other  writers  into  mistakes  concerning  dates  in  the  i6th, 
iyth,  and  i8th  centuries.  For  instance,  it  has  been  often  asserted 
that  Shakespeare  and  the  Spanish  dramatist  Cervantes  died  on  the 
same  clay,  April  23,  1616  ;  but  Shakespeare  actually  died  ten  days 
later  than  his  great  contemporary,  New  Style  having  been  adopted 
in  Spain  in  1582.  If  we  were  certain  that  Shakespeare  was  born  on 
the  23d  of  April,  1564,  we  ought  now  to  celebrate  the  anniversary 
of  his  birth  on  the  3d  of  May.  As  we  do  not  know  the  precise  date 
of  his  birth,  and  the  230!  of  April  has  come  to  lie  generally  recog- 


234  NOTES 

nized  as  the  anniversary,  there  is  no  particular  reason  for  chang- 
ing it. 

Richard  Johnson.  He  was  born  in  1573  and  died  about  1659. 
He  is  chiefly  noted  as  the  author  of  this  Famous  History  of  the 
Seven  Champions  of  Christendom.  These,  according  to  him,  were 
St.  George  of  Englaud,  St.  Denis  of  France,  St.  James  of  Spain, 
St.  Antony  of  Italy,  St.  Andrew  of  Scotland,  St.  Patrick  of  Ire- 
land, and  St.  David  of  Wales. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Wall,  of  Stratford-on-Avon,  was  for  several  years  the 
librarian  of  the  Shakespeare  Memorial  Library  there,  and  is  the 
author  of  many  scholarly  articles  in  English  periodicals  on  subjects 
connected  with  Shakespeare  and  Warwickshire. 

The  Percy  Reliques.  A  collection  of  old  ballads,  entitled  Reliques 
of  Ancient  English  Poetry  (1765),  made  by  Thomas  Percy  (1729- 
1811),  a  clergyman  (in  1782  made  Bishop  of  Dromore  in  Ireland) 
and  poet. 

Page  170. —  Chambers.  These  are  mentioned  in  more  than 
one  account  of  the  burning  of  the  Globe  Theatre  in  London,  on 
the  2Qth  of  June,  1613,  when,  as  the  critics  generally  agree,  Shake- 
speare's Henry  VIII.  was  the  play  being  performed.  A  letter 
written  by  John  Chamberlain  to  Sir  Ralph  Winwocd,  describing 
the  fire,  says  that  it  "  fell  out  by  a  peale  of  chambers,"  and  a  letter 
from  Thomas  Lorkin  to  Sir  Thomas  Puckering,  dated  "this  last 
of  June,  1613,"  says:  "No  longer  since  than  yesterday,  while 
Bourbege*  his  companie  were  acting  at  ye  Globe  the  play  of 
Hen  =  8,  and  there  shooting  of  certayne  chambers  in  way  of  tri- 
umph, the  fire  catch'd."  Another  account  states  that  these  can- 
non were  fired  on  King  Henry's  arrival  at  Cardinal  Wolsey's 
house  ;  and  the  original  stage-direction  in  Henry  VIII.  (iv.  i.) 
orders  "chambers  discharged"  at  the  entrance  of  the  king  to  the 
"  mask  at  the  cardinal's  house." 

Page  171. — Ambrose  Dudley.  He  was  born  about  1530,  made 
Earl  of  Warwick  when  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne,  and  died  in 
1589. 

Page  172.  —  The  Cage.  Tin's  house,  on  the  corner  of  P'ore 
Bridge  Street  (see  map  on  page  42),  was  occupied  by  Thomas 
Quiney  after  he  married  Judith  Shakespeare.  "The  house  has 

*  Richard  Burbage  (i567?-i6ig)  was  a  noted  English  actor.  He  made  his 
fame  at  the  Blackfriars  and  the  Globe,  of  which  he  was  a  proprietor.  He  ex- 
celled in  tragedy,  and  is  said  to  have  bsen  the  original  Hamlet,  Lear,  and 
Othello.  He  was  a  painter  as  well  as  an  actor.  When  this  fire  occurred  at  the 
Globe  Theatre,  he  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  235 

long  been  modernized,  the  only  existing  portions  of  the  ancient 
building  being  a  few  massive  beams  supporting  the  floor  over  the 
cellar"  (Halliwell-Phillipps). 

Page  173. — Sir  Thomas  Browne  (1605-1682).  was  an  eminent 
physician  and  author.  Among  his  books  were  the  Religio  Medici 
(1643),  Vulgar  Errors  (1646),  etc. 

Sir  John  Suckling  (baptized  Feb.  10,  1609,  and  supposed  to 
have  died  by  suicide  at  Paris  about  1642)  was  a  Royalist  poet  in 
the  Court  of  Charles  I.  He  wrote  some  plays,  but  is  best  known 
by  his  minor  poems,  one  of  the  most  noted  of  which  is  the  Ballad 
upon  a  Wedding. 

Page  174. — Izaak  Walton  (1593-1683)  is  famous  as  the  author 
of  The  Complete  Angler  (1653),  one  of  the  classics  of  our  literature. 
He  also  wrote  Lives  of  Donne,  Hooker,  Herbert,  and  other  English 
divines. 

Richard  Hooker  (15537-1600)  was  a  celebrated  theologian, 
author  of  Laws  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  four  books  of  which  ap- 
peared in  1592,  a  fifth  in  1597,  and  the  remaining  three  after  his 
death. 

Page  180.  —  Warners  Albion  s  England.  William  Warner 
(1558  7-1609)  was  the  author  of  Albion  s  England  (1586),  a  rhymed 
history  of  the  country,  and  the  translator  of  the  Menachmi  of  the 
Latin  dramatist  Plautus  (1595),  on  which  Shakespeare  .founded 
the  plot  of  the  Comedy  of  Errors. 

Page  182. —  Watchet-colored.  Light  blue.  Compare  Spenser, 
F.  Q.  iii.  4.  40:  "Their  watchet  mantles  frindgd  with  silver 
rownd." 

Like  a  wild  Morisco.  That  is,  a  morris-dancer.  The  quotation 
is  from  2  Henry  VI.  iii.  i.  365  : — 

''  I  have  seen 

Him  caper  upright  like  a  wild  Morisco, 
Shaking  the  bloody  darts  as  he  his  bells." 

Page  183.  —  The  featliest  of  dancers.  The  most  dexterous. 
Compare  The  Winters  Tale,  iv.  4.  176:  "She  dances  featly"  ; 
and  The  Tempest,  i.  2.  380:  "  Foot  it  featly,"  etc. 

William  Brovvne  (1591-1643?)  published  book  i.  of  Britannia's 
Pastorals  in  1613.  He  also  wrote  The  Shepherd's  Pipe  (1614)  and 
other  poems. 

Page  184. — A  carved  hook,  that  is,  a  shepherd's  crook  (called 
a  "sheep-hook"  in  The  Winters  Tale,  iv.  4.  431),  as  the  scrip 
is  his  pouch  or  wallet.  Compare  As  You  Like  It  (iii.  2.  171), 


236  NOTES 

where  Touchstone  says  to  Corin  :  "Come,  shepherd,  let  us  make 
an  honourable  retreat  ;  though  not  with  bag  and  baggage,  yet  with 
scrip  and  scrippage." 

John  Aubrey  (1626-1697),  besides  assisting  Anthony  Wood  in 
his  Antiquities  of  Oxford  (1674),  wrote  Miscellanies,  a  collection 
of  short  stories  and  other  tales  of  the  supernatural. 

Page  185. —  The  Puritan  Stubbes.  Concerning  this  Philip 
Stubbes  little  appears  to  be  known  except  that  he  was  educated  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  but  became  a  rigid  Puritan,  and  wrote 
several  books  besides  the  famous  Anatomic  of  Abuses. 

Richard  Carew  (1555-1620)  was  a  poet  and  antiquarian,  and  for 
a  time  high  sheriff  of  Cornwall. 

Page  186.  — Pageants.  The  word  in  Shakespeare's  day  was 
generally  applied  to  theatrical  entertainments. 

Play  the  woman* s  part.  Female  parts  were  played  by  boys  or 
young  men  until  after  the  middle  of  the  I7th  century.  Samuel 
Pepys,  in  his  Diary,  under  date  of  January  3,  1660,  writes  :  "  To 
the  Theatre,  where  was  acted  '  Beggar's  Brush,'  it  being  very  well 
done  ;  and  here  the  first  time  that  ever  I  saw  women  come  upon 
the  stage."  Again,  under  February  12,  1660,  he  records  a  per- 
formance of  The  Scornful  Lady,  adding  :  "  now  done  by  a  woman, 
which  makes  the  play  appear  much  better  than  ever  it  did  to  me." 

Made  her  weep  a-good.     That  is,  heartily. 

Passioning.  Grieving,  lamenting.  Compare  Venus  and  Adonis, 
1059  :  "  Dumbly  she  passions,"  etc. 

Page  190.  —  Steevens.  George  Steevens  (1736-1800)  was  an 
eccentric  but  accomplished  editor  and  critic.  "  He  was  often 
wantonly  mischievous,  and  delighted  to  stumble  for  the  mere  grati- 
fication of  dragging  unsuspicious  innocents  into  the  mire  with  him. 
lie  was,  in  short,  the  very  Puck  of  commentators." 

John  ffeywood  ( 1 500  7-1580)  was  a  dramatist  and  epigrammatist. 
His  interludes  "  prepared  the  way  for  English  comedy,"  the  char- 
acters having  some  individuality  instead  of  being  mere  walking 
virtues  and  vices.  Of  these  plays  The  Four  P's  (printed  between 
1543  and  1547)  is  the  best  known.  The  characters  that  give  it 
the  name  are  a  Palmer,  a  Pardoner,  a  Potecary  (apothecary)  and  a 
Pedlar.  K  palmer  was  a  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  Land,  so  called  from 
the  palm-branch  he  brought  back  in  token  of  having  performed 
the  journey,  A  pardoner  was  a  person  licensed  to  sell  papal  in- 
dulgences, or  pardons. 

No  night  is  now,  etc.  The  quotation  is  from  A  Midsummer- 
Nigh  fs  Dream,  ii.  I.  102. 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  237 

Page  191. — Housen.  An  obsolete  plural  of  house,  formed  like 
oxen,  etc. 

Page  192. —  The  offices.  The  rooms  in  an  old  English  mansion 
where  provisions  are  kept ;  that  is,  the  pantry,  kitchen,  etc. 

Waes-hael.  Anglo-Saxon  for  "  Be  hale  (whole,  or  well),"  equiva- 
lent to  "  Here's  to  your  health."  Wassail  is  a  corruption  of  this 
salutation,  which  from  this  meaning  was  transferred  to  festive  gath- 
erings where  it  was  used,  and  then  to  the  liquor  served  on  such 
occasions — generally,  spiced  ale. 

J*he  tenant  of  Ingon.  When  Knight  wrote  this,  fifty  or  more 
years  ago,  he  supposed  that  a  certain  John  Shakespeare  who  in 
1570  held  a  farm  known  as  Ingon  or  Ington,  in  the  parish  of 
Hampton  Lucy  near  Stratford,  was  the  poet's  father  ;  but  that  he 
was  one  of  the  many  other  Shakespeares  in  Warwickshire  (see  page 
207  below)  appears  from  an  entry  in  the  parish  register  at  Hampton 
Lucy,  showing  that  he  was  buried  on  the  25th  of  September,  1589. 
The  poet's  father  lived  until  September,  1601,  his  funeral  being 
registered  as  having  taken  place  on  the  8th  of  that  month.  There 
was  another  John  Shakespeare,  a  shoemaker,  who  was  a  resident 
of  Stratford  from  about  1584  to  about  1594.  In  the  town  records 
he  is  generally  called  the  "  shumaker,"  or  "  corvizer"  (an  obsolete 
word  of  the  same  meaning),  or  "  cordionarius  "  (the  Latin  equiva- 
lent) ;  but  occasionally  he  appears  simply  as  "John  Shakspere," 
and  some  of  these  entries  were  formerly  supposed  to  refer  to  the 
father  of  the  dramatist. 

The  Lord  of  Misrule.  The  person  chosen  to  direct  the  Christ- 
mas sports  and  revels.  His  sovereignty  lasted  during  the  twelve 
days  of  the  holiday  season.  Stow,  in  his  Survey  of  London  (see  on 
page  82  above),  says  :  "  In  the  feast  of  Christmas,  there  was  in 
the  king's  house,  wheresoever  he  lodged,  a  Lord  of  Misrule,  or 
Master  of  Merry  Disports,  and  the  like  had  ye  in  the  house  of 
every  nobleman  of  honour  or  good  worship,  were  he  spiritual  or 
temporal."  Stubbes  (see  on  page  185  above)  inveighed  against  the 
practice  in  his  usual  bitter  way  :  "  First,  all  the  wild  heads  of  the 
parish,  conventing  together,  choose  them  a  grand  captain  (of  mis- 
chief) whom  they  innoble  with  the  title  of  my  Lord  of  Misrule, 
and  him  they  crown  with  great  solemnity,  and  adopt  for  their 
king.  This  king  anointed  chooseth  forth  twenty,  forty,  three 
score,  or  a  hundred  lusty  guts  like  to  himself,  to  wait  upon  his 
lordly  majesty,  and  to  guard  his  noble  person.  Then  every  one  of 
these  his  men  he  investeth  with  his  liveries,  of  green,  yellow,  or 
some  other  light  wanton  color.  .  .  .  And  they  have  their  hobby- 


238  NOTES 

horses,  dragons,  and  other  antics,  together  with  their  bawdy  pipers 
and  thundering  drummers,  to  strike  up  the  devil's  dance  withal  ;- 
.  .  .  and  in  this  sort  they  go  to  the  church  (though  the  minister 
be  at  prayer  or  preaching)  dancing  and  swinging  their  handker- 
chiefs over  their  heads  in  the  church,  like  devils  incarnate,  with 
such  a  confused  noise  that  no  man  can  hear  his  own  voice.  .  .  . 
Then  after  this,  about  the  church  they  go  again  and  again,  and  so 
forth  into  the  churchyard,  where  they  have  commonly  their  sum- 
mer halls,  their  bowers,  arbors,  and  banqueting  houses  set  up, 
wherein  they  feast,  banquet,  and  dance  all  that  day,  and  (perad- 
venture)  all  that  night  too.  And  thus  these  terrestrial  furies  spend 
their  Sabbath  day,"  He  goes  on  to  tell  how  the  people  give  money, 
food,  and  drink  for  these  festivities,  and  adds  :  "  but  if  they  knew 
that,  as  often  as  they  bring  any  to  the  maintenance  of  these  exe- 
crable pastimes,  they  offer  sacrifice  to  the  Devil  and  Sathanas 
[Satan],  they  would  repent,  and  withdraw  their  hands,  which  God 
grant  they  may."  The  Lords  of  Misrule  in  colleges  were  preached 
against  at  Cambridge  by  the  Puritans  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  as 
inconsistent  with  a  place  of  religious  education,  and  as  a  relic  of 
Pagan  worship.  In  Scotland,  the  "Abbot  of  Unreason"  (as  the 
Lord  of  Misrule  was  called  there),  with  other  festive  characters, 
was  suppressed  by  legislation  as  early  as  1555.  Thomas  Fuller 
(1608-1681),  in  his  Good  Thoughts  in  Worse  Times  (1647),  says  : 
"Some  sixty  years  since,  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  it  was 
solemnly  debated  betwixt  the  heads  [of  the  colleges]  to  debar 
young  scholars  of  that  liberty  allowed  them  in  Christmas,  as  in- 
consistent with  the  discipline  of  students.  But  some  grave  gover- 
nors mentioned  the  good  use  thereof,  because  thereby,  in  twelve 
days,  they  more  discover  the  dispositions  of  scholars  than  in  twelve 
months  before." 

Page  193. —  The  Clapton  who  is  gone.  William  Clopton,  whose 
tomb  is  in  the  north  aisle  of  Stratford  Church  He  was  the  father 
of  the  William  Clopton  of  Shakespeare's  boyhood,  who  resided  at 
Clopton  House,  an  ancient  mansion  less  than  two  miles  from  Strat- 
ford on  the  brow  of  the  Welcombe  Hills.  It  is  still  standing, 
though  long  ago  modernized.  It  is  said  to  have  been  originally 
surrounded  with  a  moat,  like  the  "  moated  grange  "  of  Measure  for 
Measure  (iii.  I.  277). 

To  burn  this  night  "with  torches.  That  is,  to  prolong  the  festiv- 
ities. The  quotation  is  from  Antonv  and  Cleopatra,  iv.  2.  41. 

John  Dyer  (1700-1758)  was  an  English  poet,  author  of  Grongar 
Hill (1727),  The  Ruins  of  Rome  (1740),  etc. 


CLOPTON  MONUMENTS 


SHAKESPEARE    THE   BOY  239 

Page  194-. — F'lawns.  A  kind  of  custard-pie.  Compare  Ben 
Jonson,  Sad  Shepherdess \  i.  2  : — 

"  Fall  to  your  cheese-cakes,  curds,  and  clouted  cream, 
Your  fools,  your  flawns,"  etc. 

The  fools  were  also  a  kind  of  custard,  or  fruit  with  whipped  cream, 
etc.  -  Gooseberry-fool  is  still  an  English  dish. 

Page  195. —  The  cost  of  the  sheep-shearing  feast.  Mr.  Knight 
makes  a  little  slip  here.  The  Clown,  on  his  way  to  buy  materials 
for  the  feast,  tries  to  reckon  up  mentally  what  the  "wool  from  the 
shearing  will  bring.  "Let  me  see,"  he  says;  "every  'leven 
wether  tods  [that  is,  yields  a  tod,  or  28  pounds  of  wool]  ;  every 
tod  yields  pound  and  odd  shilling  ;  fifteen  hundred  shorn, — what 
comes  the  wool  to  ?"  Then,  after  vainly  attempting  to  make  out 
what  the  amount  will  be,  he  adds  :  "I  cannot  do  't  without  coun- 
ters" (round  pieces  of  metal  used  in  reckoning),  and,  giving  up  the 
problem,  turns  to  considering  what  he  is  to  buy  for  his  sister  : 
"Let  me  see;  what  am  I  to  buy  for  our  sheep-shearing  feast? 
Three  pound  of  sugar,  five  pound  of  currants,  rice, — what  will  this 
sister  of  mine  do  with  rice?  But  my  father  hath  made  her  mistress 
of  the  feast,  and  she  lays  it  on.  She  hath  made  me  four-and- 
twenty  nosegays  for  the  shearers, — three-man  songmen  all,  and 
very  good  ones  ;  but  they  are  most  of  them  means  and  bases  ;  but 
one  Puritan  amongst  them,  and  he  sings  psalms  to  hornpipes.  I 
must  have  saffron  to  colour  the  warden  pies  ;  mace,  dates — none  ; 
that's  out  of  my  note  :  nutmegs,  seven  ;  a  race  or  two  of  ginger, — 
but  that  I  may  beg  ;  four  pound  of  prunes,  and  as  many  of  raisins 
o'  the  sun."  Three-man  songmen  are  singers  of  catches  in  three 
parts.  Means  are  tenors.  Warden  pies  are  pies  made  of  wardens, 
a  kind  of  large  pears,  which  were  usually  baked  or  roasted.  A  race 
of  ginger  is  a  root  of  it;  and  raisins  o*  the  sun  are  raisins  dried  in 
the  sun. 

Page  196.  —  Paul  Hentznei.  He  was  a  native  or  Silesia 
(1558-1623)  who  wrote  a  Journey  through  Germany,  France, 
Italy,  etc. 

Matthew  Stevenson  wrote  several  other  books  in  prose  and  verse, 
published  between  1654  and  1673. 

The  furmenty-pot.  The  word  funnenty  is  a  corruption  of  fru- 
t>iettty(see  page  197),  which  is  derived  from  the  Latin  frtimentum, 
meaning  wheat.  The  hulled  wheat,  boiled  in  milk  and  seasoned, 
was  a  popular  dish  in  England,  as  it  still  is  in  the  rural  districts. 


240  NOTES 

Robert  Herrick  (1591-1674)  was  an  English  lyric  poet.  The 
Hesperides  was  his  most  important  work.  A  complete  edition  of 
his  poems,  edited  by  Mr.  Grosart,  was  published  in  1876. 

Page  197. — A  mawkin.  A  kitchen-wench,  or  other  menial 
servant.  The  word  is  only  a  phonetic  spelling  of  malkin,  which 
Shakespeare  has  in  Coriolanus,  ii.  I.  224:  "the  kitchen  malkin." 
Compare  Tennyson,  The  Princess,  v.  25  : — 

'  If  this  be  he, — or  a  draggled  mawkin,  thou, 
That  tends  her  bristled  grunters  in  the  sludge; 

that  is,  a  female  swineherd. 

Prank  them  tip.     Adorn  themselves. 

The  Jill- horse.  The  word  fill,  for  the  thills  or  shafts  of  a  vehicle, 
used  by  Shakespeare  and  other  writers  of  that  day,  is  now  obsolete 
in  England,  though  still  current  in  New  England.  Cross  means 
to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  upon  or  over  the  animal. 

Page  199.  —  Sheffield  whiffles.  Knives  made  at  Sheffield. 
Chaucer,  in  the  Canterbury  Tales  (3931)  refers  to  a  "  Shefeld 
thwitel,"  or  whittle.  Compare  Shakespeare,  Timon  of  Athens, 
v.  i.  173  :  "  There's  not  a  whittle  in  the  unruly  camp,"  etc. 

Rings  with  posies.  Rings  with  mottoes  inscribed  inside  them. 
Posy  is  the  same  word  as  poesy,  which  we  also  find  used  in  this 
sense.  Compare  Hamlet,  iii.  2.  162  :  "Is  this  a  prologue,  or  the 
poesy  of  a  ring  ?  "  The  fashion  of  putting  such  posies  on  rings 
prevailed  from  the  middle  of  the  i6th  century  to  the  close  of  the 
I7th.  In  1624  a  little  book  was  published  with  the  title,  Love's 
Garland,  or  Posies  for  Rings,  Handkerchiefs,  and  Gloves;  and  such 
pretty  tokens,  that  lovers  send  their  loves.  Compare  page  53  above. 

Page  201.— Qui  est  la?  Who  is  there?  (French).  The  reply 
is,  "  Peasants,  poor  French  people." 

Whipped  three  'market-days.  For  some  petty  offence  he  had 
committed. 

Page  202. —  Wick-yarn.  For  making  wicks  for  the  oil-lamps 
then  in  common  use.  It  was  a  familiar  article  in  this  country  fifty 
years  ago,  when  whale-oil  was  used  for  household  illumination. 

Napery.     Linen  for  domestic  use,  especially  table-linen. 

Inkles,  caddises,  coifs,  stomachers,  pomanders,  etc.  All  these 
things  are  found  in  the  peddler's  pack  of  Autolycus  in  7^he  Winters 
Tale  (iv.  4).  Compare  page  204  below.  Caddises  are  worsted  rib- 
bons, or  galloons.  Inkles  are  a  kind  of  tape.  Pomanders  were 
little  balls  made  of  perfumes,  and  worn  in  the  pocket  or  about  the 


SHAKESPEARE   THE   BOY  241 

neck,  for  the  sake  of  the  fragrance  or  as  a  mere  ornament,  and 
sometimes  to  prevent  infection  in  times  of  plague. 

The  ivy-bush.  A  bush  or  tuft  of  ivy  was  in  olden  time  the  sign 
of  a  vintner.  Compare  the  cut  of  the  Morris  Dance,  opposite  page 
178.  The  old  proverb,  "  Good  wine  needs  no  bush  "  (As  You  Like 
It,  v.  epil.),  means  that  a  place  where  good  wine  is  kept  needs  no 
sign  to  attract  customers.  Gascoigne,  in  his  Glass  of  Government 
(!575).  says:  "Now  a  days  the  good  wyne  needeth  none  ivye 
garland." 

Page  203. —  The  jitggler  -with  his  ape.  The  ape  being  used 
to  perform  tricks,  as  monkeys  are  nowadays  by  organ-grinders  to 
amuse  their  street  audiences.  In  The  Winter's  Tale  (iv.  3.  101) 
the  Clown  says  of  Autolycus :  "I  know  this  man  well  :  he  hath 
been  since  an  ape-bearer  "  ;  that  is,  he  carried  round  a  trained  ape 
as  a  show. 

Cantabanqtd.  Strolling  ballad-singers  ;  literally,  persons  who 
sing  upon  a  bench  (from  the  Italian  catambanco,  formerly  can- 
tinbanco\  Compare  Sir  Henry  Taylor,  Philip  van  Artevelde, 
i.  3-  2;  — 

"  He  was  no  tavern  cantabank  that  made  it, 
But  a  squire  minstrel  of  your  Highness'  court." 

The  Tale  of  Sir  Topas.  One  of  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales, 
The  Rime  of  Sir  Topas,  a  burlesque  upon  the  metrical  romances 
of  the  time.  It  is  written  in  ballad  form. 

Bevis  of  Southampton.  A  fabulous  hero  of  the  time  of  William 
the  Conqueror.  He  is  mentioned  in  Henry  VIII.  i.  i.  38  : — 

"  that  former  fabulous  story, 
Being  now  seen  possible  enough,  got  credit, 
That  Bevis  was  believed;" 

that  is,  so  that  the  old  romantic  legend  became  credible.  In  2 
Henry  VI.,  after  the  words  (ii.  3.  89),  "  have  at  thee  with  a  down- 
right blow,"  some  editors  add  from  the  old  play  on  which  this  is 
founded  :  "as  Bevis  of  Southampton  fell  upon  Ascapart,"  a  giant 
whom  he  was  said  to  have  conquered.  Figures  of  Bevis  and  As- 
capart formerly  adorned  the  Bar-gate  at  Southampton,  as  shown  in 
the  cut  on  the  next  page  ;  but  when  the  gate  was  repaired  some 
years  ago  they  were  removed  to  the  museum. 

Adam  Bell  and  Clymme  of  the  Clough  (that  is,  of  the  Cliff) 
figure  in  a  popular  old  ballad,  which  may  be    found   in  Percy's 
Reliques. 
16 


242 


NOTES 


The  woolen  statute-caps.  Caps  which,  by  Act  of  Parliament  in 
1571,  the  citizens  were  required  to  wear  on  Sundays  and  holidays. 
The  nobility  were  exempt  from  the  requirement,  which,  as  Strype 
informs  us,  was  "  in  behalf  of  the  trade  of  cappers  " — one  of  sundry 
such  "  protection  "  measures  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  Compare 
Love's  Labour  's  Lost,  v.  2.  282  :  "Well,  better  wits  have  worn 
plain  statute-caps."  As  Knight  intimates  here,  the  law  was  a  very 
unpopular  one. 


THE    BAR-GATE,    SOUTHAMPTON 


The  Wife  of  Bath's  husbands.  Alluding  to  the  Wife  of  Bath, 
one  of  Chaucer's  Canterbury  pilgrims.  In  the  prologue  to  her 
tale,  she  says  of  her  husbands  (of  whom  she  had  five  in  succes- 
sion) : — 

"  I  governed  hem  so  wel  after  my  lawe, 
That  eche  of  hem  ful  blisful  was  and  fawe  [fain,  or  glad] 
To  bringen  me  gay  things  fro  the  feyre." 

That  is,  as  she  goes  on  to  explain,  they  were  glad  to  bring  her  pres' 
ents  from  the  fair  to  keep  her  in  good  humor,  as  otherwise  she  was 
apt  to  treat  them  "  spitously,"  or  spitefully. 

Where  a  coxcomb  will  be  broke.     That  is,  a  head  will  be  broken  ; 


SHAKESPEARE    THE  BOY  243 

but  it  should  be  understood  that  this  does  not  mean  a  fractured 
skull,  but  merely  a  bruise  sufficient  to  break  the  skin  and  make  the 
blood  flow.  Shakespearian  critics  have  sometimes  misapprehended 
this  and  similar  expressions.  In  Romeo  and  Juliet  (i.  2.  52),  where 
the  hero  says,  "  Your  plantain-leaf  is  excellent  for  that  "  (referring 
to  a  "broken  shin"),  Ulrici,  the  eminent  German  commentator, 
thinks  that  he  must  be  speaking  ironically,  as  plantain  "  was  used 
to  stop  the  blood,  but  not  for  a  fracture  of  a  bone."  Compare 
Twelfth  Night,  v.  I.  178,  where  Sir  Andrew  says  :  "  He  has  broke 
my  head  across  and  has  given  Sir  Toby  a  bloody  coxcomb  too." 

Page  206.  — Junkets.  The  word  here  means  sweetmeats  or 
delicacies. 

Properties.  In  the  theatrical  sense  of  stage  requisities,  such  as 
costumes  and  other  equipments  and  appointments. 

Incurious.  Not  curious,  in  the  original  sense  of  care f til ;  not 
fastidious,  and  therefore  pleased  with  these  inferior  actors. 

And  possess.  The  subject  of  possess  is  omitted,  after  the  loose 
fashion  of  the  time,  being  obviously  implied  in  rtistics.  Compare 
Hamlet ,  iii.  1.8: — 

"  Nor  do  we  find  him  forward  to  be  sounded, 
But  with  a  crafty  madness  keeps  aloof  " ; 

that  is,  he  keeps  aloof. 

Page  207. —  We  see  not  its  workings.  We  see  the  results,  but 
not  the  processes  by  which  they  have  been  brought  about. 

The  "green  lap"  in  which  the  boy  poet  was  "laid."  The  quota- 
tions are  from  the  passage  referring  to  Shakespeare  in  The  Progress 
of  Poesy  by  Thomas  Gray  (1716-1771)  :— 

"  Far  from  the  sun  and  summer  gale, 
In  thy  green  lap  was  Nature's  darling  laid, 
What  time,  where  lucid  Avon  stray'd, 
To  him  the  mighty  mother  did  unveil 
Her  awful  face  '  the  dauntless  child 
Stretch'd  forth  his  little  arms  and  smil'd. 
4  This  pencil  take,'  she  said,  '  whose  colors  clear 
Richly  paint  the  vernal  year: 
Thine  too  these  golden  keys,  immortal  boy! 
This  can  unlock  the  gates  of  joy ; 
Of  horror  that,  and  thrilling  fears, 
Or  ope  the  sacred  fount  of  sympathetic  tears.' " 

The  name  of  Shakespeare  was  very  common.  See  note  on  The 
tenant  of  Ingon,  page  192,  above. 


2.J4  NOTES 

Page  208.  —  Volumes  have  been  -written  on  the  plant- lore,  etc. 
The  best  of  these  is  Rev.  H.  N.  Ellacombe's  Plant-Lore  and  Gar- 
den-craft of  Shakespeare,  which  is  quoted  on  the  next  page. 

Apricocks.     An  old  form  of  apricots. 

Page  209.—  In  the  compass  of  a  pale.  Within  the  limits  of  an 
enclosure,  or  walled  garden. 

Knots.  Interlacing  beds.  Compare  Milton,  P.  L.  iv.  242  :  "In 
beds  and  curious  knots"  ;  and  Love's  Labour  's  Lost,  i.  i.  249: 
"  thy  curious-knotted  garden." 

He  that  hath  suffer 'd,  etc.     King  Richard. 

At  time  of  year.     That  is,  at  the  proper  season. 

Confound  itself.  Ruin  or  destroy  itself.  Compare  The  Mer- 
chant of  Venice,  iii.  2.  278  : — 

"  Never  did  I  know 

A  creature  that  did  bear  the  shape  of  man 
So  keen  and  greedy  to  confound  a  man." 

Page  210.  —  To  prove  his  real  profession.  Books  and  essays 
have  been  written  to  prove  Shakespeare's  intimate  knowledge  of 
various  professions  and  occupations — law,  medicine,  military  sci- 
ence, seamanship,  etc. 


ADDENDA 

Page  21. —  The  letters  E.  R.  Young  readers  may  need  to  be 
informed  that  these  letters  stand  for  Elizabeth  Kegina  (Latin  for 
Queen).  See  cut  on  next  page. 

Page  87. —  The  elder  Robert  of  Stratford.  Sidney  Lee  says: 
"  Robert,  the  father  of  the  prelates  Robert  and  John,  was  a  well- 
to-do  inhabitant  of  Stratford,  who  appears  to  have  set  his  sons  an 
example  in  local  works  of  benevolence.  He  it  is  to  whom  has  been 
attributed  the  foundation,  in  1296,  of  the  chapel  of  the  guild,  and 
of  the  hospital  or  almshouses  attached  to  it." 

Page  89. — Adonai  or  Elohim.  Hebrew  names  for  Jehovah,  or 
God. 

Page  112. — Shrewd  turns.  That  is,  evil  turns  (chances  or  hap- 
penings). Cf.  Henry  VIII.  v.  3.  176  : — 

"The  common  voice,  I  see,  is  verified 
Of  thee,  which  says  thus,  '  Do  my  Lord  of  Canterbury 
A  shrewd  turn,  and  he  is  your  friend  for  ever';" 


SHAKESPEARE   THE   BOY 


245 


that  is,  he  returns  good  for  evil.     Compare  As  You  Like  It,  v.  4. 

178:- 

"  And  after,  every  [every  one]  of  this  happy  number 
That  have  endur'd  shrewd  days  and  nights  with  us 
Shall  share  the  good  of  our  returned  fortune;" 

and  Chaucer,  Tale  of  Melibceus :  "The  prophete  saith :  Flee 
shrewdnesse,  and  do  goodnesse,"  etc. 

Page  102, — A  sergeant- at- arms  his  mace.  In  Old  English  his 
was  often  put  in  this  way  after  proper  names,  which  had  no  genitive 
(or  possessive)  inflection.  In  the  i6th  century  it  came  to  be  used 
frequently  in  place  of  the  possessive  ending  -s.  It  was  occasionally 
used  in  the  I  yth  and  1 8th  centuries,  when  some  grammarians  adopt- 
ed the  false  theory  that  the  possessive  ending  was  a  contraction  of 
his.  The  construction  occurs  now  and  then  in  Shakespeare ;  as  in 
J\velfth  Night,  iii.  3.  26  :  "  the  count  his  galleys,"  etc. 

Page  204, — Sweet  hearts.  This  must  not  be  supposed  to  be  a 
misprint  for  Sweethearts,  which  was  originally  two  words  and  often 
used  as  a  tender  or  affectionate  address.  Sweetheart  occurs  in 
Shakespeare  only  in  The  Winters  Tale,  iv.  4.  664:  "take  your 
sweetheart's  hat,"  etc. 


AUTOGRAPH   OF   QUEEN    ELIZABETH 


INDEX 


A-B-C  book,  101. 

abracadabra,  88. 

absey,  102. 

Adam  Bell,  203,  241, 

Adonai,  244. 

a-good,  236. 

ale-tasters,  40. 

Alveston,  28,  31. 

Ambrose,  Earl  of  Warwick,  75,  171 

amulets,  87. 

amusements,  indoor,  67. 

Anne,  Lady,  8. 

apricocks,  208,  244. 

archery,  142. 

Arden,  Forest  of,  222. 

Arden,  Richard,  53. 

articles  (in  grammar),  226. 

Ascham,  Roger,  96,  115,  143,  224. 

ash-tree  (in  charms),  89. 

Aubrey,  John,  184,  236. 

Avon,  the,  24. 

backgammon,  70. 
bait  (in  hawking),  157. 
ball-games,  123. 
Bancroft,  the,  45. 
Barclay,  Alexander,  126,  230. 
barley-break,  124. 
base-ball,  123. 
bat-fowling,  153. 
bay-leaf  (as  charml,  90. 
Baynes,  Professor,  145,  231. 
Bear  (of  Warwick),  4. 
bear-baiting,  132. 
bearing-cloth,  82. 
Beauchamp,  Richard,  7,  9. 
Beauchamp,  Thomas,  7. 
beer,  58. 

bells  (of  hawk),  157. 
beshrew,  223. 
Bevis,  203,  241. 
bewraveth,  228. 
bid  a  base,  125. 
bird-bolt,  145. 
blind-man's-buff,  122. 
Bolingbroke,  Henry,  15. 
bone-fires,  187. 
Book  of  Riddles,  67,  71. 
Books  of  Nurture ',  60. 
books,  popular,  71. 
bordarii)  28. 


bottom  (of  thread),  73. 

boundary  elm,  174. 

brach,  231. 

bread,  58. 

bride-ale,  184. 

Brinsley,  John,  66,  109,  229. 

broken  coxcomb,  203,  242. 

Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  173,  235. 

Browne,  William,  183,  235. 

Bullein,  William,  56,  219. 

Burbage,  Richard,  234. 

Bursall,  Thomas,  33. 

Burton,  Robert,  57,  90,  127,  219,  224. 

Butler,  Bishop,  127,  230. 

butts,  41,  217. 

caddises,  202,  240. 

Cage, the,  172,  234. 

caitch,  230. 

calendars,  223. 

cankers  (=canker-worms),  79,  222. 

cantabanqui,  203,  241. 

cappers,  16,  215. 

caps,  statute,  41,  203,  242. 

caraways,  62,  8^,  219,  223. 

card-playing,  69. 

caret,  227. 

Carew,  Richard,  185,  236. 

chambers  (cannon),  170,  234. 

changelings,  84. 

chantry,  32,  216. 

Chapel  Lane,  45. 

Charlecote  Hall,  19. 

charms,  87. 

chess,  71,  221. 

chiding,  231. 

children,  training  of,  60. 

chimneys,  51. 

chrisom,  81. 

Christ  Cross  row,  101. 

christenings,  80. 

christening  shirts,  82. 

Christmas,  190. 

clap  in  the  clout,  144. 

Clopton  House,  192. 

Clopton,  Hugh,  33,  192. 

Clopton,  William,  193,  238. 

closely  (^secretly),  161. 

Clymme  of  the  Clough,  203,  241. 

cock-fighting,  136. 

cock-throwing,  138. 


243 


INDEX 


Colbrand,  10,  n. 
coldest  fault,  231. 
Colet,  Dean,  136,  231. 
compass  of  a  pale,  209,  244. 
conceit  (=intellect),  229. 
confound  (—ruin),  209,  244. 
Corporation,  Stratford,  39. 
correctors  for  the  print,  228. 
Coryat,  Thomas,  55,  219. 
Cotgrave,  Randle,  156,  232. 
Cotsall,  147. 
cottagers  (feudal),  28. 
counters,  239. 
countervail,  229. 
coursing,  147. 
Coventry,  4,  14. 
Coventry  churches,  215. 
coxcomb  (=head),  203,  242. 
craft-guilds,  34. 
craven,  137. 
cried  upon  it,  232. 
cross-row,  101. 
curtsy,  61,  219. 

dagswain,  54. 

deer-stealing,  21. 

detest  (=detested),  220. 

dill  (in  magic),  222. 

discovered  (^uncovered),  162. 

Drayton,  Michael,  3,  123,  213. 

drink-hael,  192. 

drinks,  58. 

ducking-stool,  40. 

Dudley,  Ambrose,  75,  171,  234. 

Dudley,  Robert,  7,  12. 

Dugdale,  William,  4,  16,  213. 

dun  cow,  the,  10,  214. 

Dun  in  the  mire,  127. 

dwelling-houses,  49. 

Dyer,  John,  193,  238. 

Easter,  172. 

elder-tree  (in  charms),  89. 

Ellacombe,  H.  N.,  209,  244. 

Elohim,  244. 

embossed,  231. 

enfranchisement,  228. 

English,  neglect  of,  106. 

entend,  228. 

enter  children,  to,  220. 

E.  R.,  21,244. 

erring,  222. 

Eton,  May-day  at,  178. 

Eton,  whipping  at,  114. 

evil  eye,  the,  85. 

extravagant,  222. 

eyas,  154. 

fairing,  204. 
fairs,  30,  198,  201. 
fairy  rings,  222. 
falconet,  156. 
featliest,  235. 


fern-seed,  188. 

Field,  Henry,  53. 

fill-horse,  240. 

filliping  the  toad,  139. 

fishing,  132. 

flawns,  239. 

flewed,  231. 

flight  (arrow),  145. 

fond  (=foolish),  117. 

food,  57. 

fool  (a  dish),  239. 

fool  (in  pity),  231. 

foot-ball,  125. 

forehand  shaft,  144. 

forked  heads  (of  arrows),  231. 

forks,  55,  66. 

Forman,  Simon,  22,  215. 

Four  Sons  of  Ayjnon,  The,  67,  71. 

fowling,  151. 

Friar  Tuck,  179,  180,  221. 

frumenty,  239. 

furmenty,  239. 

furniture,  household,  52. 

Furnivall,  F.  J.,  66,  194. 

games  and  sports,  121. 

garden-craft  in  Shakespeare,  208- 

gardens,  Stratford,  51. 

Gastrell,  Rev.  Francis,  51,  218. 

George,  Duke  of  Clarence,  9,  38. 

Gesta  Romanorum,  77,  221. 

Gifford,  William,  127,  230. 

Giletta  of  Narbonne,  76,  221. 

glisters,  232. 

Godiva,  19. 

gospel-trees,  174. 

gossips'  feast,  82. 

Grammar  School,  Stratford,  38,  95. 

Greene,  Robert,  90,  224. 

Guild  chapel,  37,  96,  102,  202. 

Guild,  the  Stratford,  34. 

Guy  of  Warwick,  5,  9,  67,  71,  203. 

Guy's  Cliff,  9. 

haggard  (  noun),  154. 

handkerchiefs,  65. 

handy-dandy,  129. 

hang-hog,  226. 

hare-hunting,  150. 

Harrison,  William,  52,  54,  58,  199,  218. 

harry-racket,  122. 

Harsnet,  Samuel,  224. 

harvest-home,  195. 

hawking,  153. 

Hell-moutli,  17. 

Hentzner,  Paul,  196,  239. 

Herod  (in  old  plays),  17,  215. 

Heron,  Robert,  86,  223. 

Herrick,  Robert,  196,  206,  240. 

herse,  214. 

Heywood,  John,  190,  236. 

hide-and-seek,  122. 

hock-cart,  197. 


INDEX 


249 


hooded  (hawk),  156. 

hoodman-blind,  122,  230. 

hook  (=shepherd's  crook),  235. 

Hooker,  Richard,  174,  235. 

hopharlots,  54. 

horn-book,  96. 

horse,  description  of,  147. 

horse  (plural),  160,  232. 

housen,  237. 

Hundred  Merry  Tales,  The,  67,  71. 

Hunt,  Thomas,  96,  115. 

hunting,  145. 

imp  (=child),  7,  214. 

incurious,  243. 

Ingon,  192,  237. 

inhooped,  137. 

inkles,  240. 

irks,  231. 

ivy-bush  (vintner's  sign),  241. 

James  I.  (his  Demonology),  91. 

jauncing,  232. 

jesses,  157. 

John  of  Stratford.  31,  32. 

Johnson,  Richard,  234. 

joint-stools,  53. 

Jones,  Dr.  John,  75,  221. 

Jonson,  Ben,  81,  118,  127,  188. 

juggler  (with  ape),  241. 

junkets,  243. 

Kemp,  William,  233. 
Kenilworth,  4,  12,  132,  230. 
Knight,  Charles,  172,  181,  194,202,221. 
knots  (in  garden),  207,  244. 

lamb-ale,  184. 

Laneham,  Robert,  13,  215. 

Latin  (at  school),  103. 

Latin  (in  exorcisms),  98,  225. 

latten,  81. 

laund,  222. 

leet-ale,  184. 

leets,  40,  43,  184. 

let  down  the  wind,  157. 

likes  (=suits),  228. 

lill-lill,  124. 

Lilly,  William,  105,  227. 

Lodge,  Thomas,  89,  224. 

loggats,  122,  230. 

Lord  of  Misrule,  192,  237. 

Lucy,  Sir  Thomas,'  20,  215. 

Lupton,  Thomas,  86,  223. 

Lyttleton,  Sir  Thomas,  38. 

Mab,  73,  74. 

Macbeth,  79. 

Maid  Marian,  179,  181. 

malkin,  240. 

Mamillius,  74. 

man  (=tame),  154. 

manor,  217. 


marchpane,  83,  223. 

market  cross  (Stratford),  44,  92. 

markets,  198. 

Markham,  Gervase,  153. 

marmalet,  83,  223. 

Mantuan,  the,  105. 

mawkin,  240. 

May-day,  176. 

meals,  58,  61. 

means  (=tenors),  239. 

Melton,  John,  88. 

merest  loss,  232. 

mews,  158. 

micher,  112. 

Midsummer  Eve,  186. 

moralities,  161. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  138,  231. 

Morisco,  235. 

morris-board,  130. 

morris-dance,  179,  184,  233. 

Mowbray,  Thomas,  15. 

Mulcaster,  Richard,  106,  130,  227,  230. 

musits,  232. 

muss,  128. 

napery,  240. 
napkin,  65. 
Neville,  Richard,  8. 
New  Place,  33,  217. 
nine-holes,  123. 
nine  men's  morris,  129. 
Nine  Worthies,  the,  18. 
nuntions,  58. 

O  ! — vocativo,  O !  227. 
'od's  nouns.  226. 
o'erlooked  (=bewitched),  87. 
offices,  237. 

Old  and  New  Style,  233. 
orpine,  189. 

pageants,  236. 

painted  cloths,  53. 

Painter,  William,  75,  221. 

pale  ( ^enclosure),  207,  244. 

palle-malle,  230. 

palmer,  236. 

pardoner,  236. 

Paris  Garden,  135,  230. 

passioning,  236. 

Peacham,  Henry,  96,  113,  114,  224. 

penny-prick,  69. 

penthouse,  50. 

perambulation  of  parish,  74. 

Percy,  Thomas,  168,  234. 

pigeon-holes  (  game),  70. 

pinfold,  45,  217. 

pitching  the  bar,  123. 

plucking  geese,  139. 

poaching,  21. 

pomander,  240. 

pomegranate-flowers  (as  charm),  90. 

pose  (—cold  in  head),  52. 


250 


INDEX 


posies  (in  rings),  53,  199,  240. 
prabbles,  227. 
prank  them  up,  240. 
preeches,  227,  229. 
present  (^immediate),  229. 
prisoners'  base,  124. 
proceed  in  learning,  229. 
properties,  243. 
Puck,  74. 
pummels,  70. 

quack  (^hoarseness),  52. 
quails  (for  fighting),  137. 

race  (=root),  239. 

raisins  o'  the  sun,  239. 

Ralph  of  Stratford,  31,  33. 

rear-suppers,  58. 

reredos,  52. 

Rhodes,  Hugh,  60,  219. 

riffeling,  185. 

ringlets  ( =f airy  rings),  222. 

rip  up,  228. 

Robert  of  Stratford,  31,  37,  244- 

Robin  Goodfellow,  74,  221. 

Rother  Market,  30,  50. 

rushes  (for  floors),  54,  56,  218. 

Sackerson,  135. 

Saint  George's  Day,  167. 

Saint  John's  wort,  189. 

Saint  Mary's  Church,  Warwick,  6. 

sanctuary,  230. 

sanded,  231. 

school  discipline,  113. 

school  life,  109. 

school  morals,  112. 

Schoole  of  Vertue,  The,  60. 

Scot,  Reginald,  90,  189,  224. 

Seager,  Francis,  60,  219. 

sequestered,  231. 

Shakespeare  Birthplace,  49,  217. 

Shakespeare  mulberry-tree,  51,  218. 

Shakespeare,  Henry,  207. 

Shakespeare,  John,  26,  40,  53. 

Shakespeare,  Mary,  84. 

sheep-shearing,  193. 

Sheffield  whittles,  240. 

Shenstone,  William,  101,226. 

Ship  of  Fools,  The,  67,  200. 

Shottery,  4. 

shove-groat,  67. 

shovel -board.  68. 

shrewd  (=evil),  112,  244. 

Siddons,  Mrs..  12. 

Sir  (title  of  priests),  226. 

Skelton,  John,  232. 

slide-thrift,  67. 

slip-groat,  67. 

slipping  a  hawk,  156. 

Smithe,  Ralph,  142. 

spoons,  apostle,  80. 

spoons,  Latin,  81. 


sprag,  227. 

statute-caps,  41,  203,  242. 

Steevens,  George,  190,  236. 

Stevenson,  Matthew,  196,  239. 

stool-ball,  122. 

story-telling,  73. 

Stow,  John,  82,  222. 

Stratford  College,  33,  37. 

Stratford  corporation,  39. 

Stratford  early  history,  27. 

Stratford  grammar  school,  95. 

Stratford  Guild,  34,  37. 

Stratford  on-Avon,  21. 

Stratford  topography,  43. 

strikes  (of  planet),  231. 

Strutt,  Joseph,  67,  220. 

Stubbes,  Philip,  176,  178,  185,  206,  236. 

Suckling,  John,  235. 

sun  dancing  at  Easter,  173. 

sweet  hearts,  204,  245. 

sweet-suckers,  83,  223. 

swimming,  130. 

table-linen,  55. 

takes  (of  fairies),  231. 

tassel-gentle,  156. 

Taylor  the  Water  Poet,  69,  220. 

tender  well,  23 1. 

than  (=then),  219. 

theatres,  movable,  14,  215. 

theatrical  entertainments,  160,  185. 

then  (=than),  220. 

thorow,  65,  220. 

three-man  beetle,  139. 

three-man  songmen,  239. 

tick  (=tag),  125. 

tick-tack,  70. 

tod,  239. 

told  (=counted),  232. 

took  on  him  as  a  conjurer,  225. 

toothache,  charms  for,  88. 

toothpicks,  65. 

Topas,  Tale  of  Sir,  203,  241. 

towels,  56. 

tract  (=track),  217. 

training  of  children,  60. 

tray-trip,  90. 

treatably,  219. 

treen,  55. 

troll-my-dames,  70. 

trumpet  (=trumpeter),  222. 

Tusser,  Thomas,  114,  195,  229. 

Udall,  Nicholas,  114. 

vaward,  231. 
vervain,  80,  189,  222. 
villeins,  28. 
voiders.  62. 

waes-hael,  192,  237. 
wakes,  30.  205. 
Wall,  A.  H.,  168,  234. 


INDEX 


251 


Waller,  Edmund,  126,  230. 
Walton,  Jzaak,  235. 
warden-pies,  239. 
warlocks,  223. 
Warner,  William,  235. 
Warwick,  4. 
Warwickshire,  3. 
wash-basins,  56. 
Wat,  232. 

watchet-colored,  235. 
Webster,  John,  90,  224. 
which  (=who),  228. 
whifflers,  144. 

whistled  off  (in  hawking),  157. 
white  meats,  57. 
Whitsuntide,  184. 
whittles  (noun),  240. 


who  (=which),  231. 

wick-yarn,  240. 

Wierus,  224. 

Wife  of  Bath,  203,  242. 

Willis,  R.,  112,  229. 

Wilmcote,  4,  213. 

wine,  58. 

Wise,  J.  R.,  26,  151. 

witches,  79,  84. 

Wolsey,  Cardinal,  56. 

woman's  part  (on  stage),  236. 

Woncot,  213. 

Worthies,  the  Nine,  18. 

wote,  223. 

wrestling,  142. 

yearned  (^grieved),  232. 


THE  END 


SCHOOL  COURSES  IN  SHAKESPEARE 


WHAT  plays  of 
Shakespeare  are  to 
be  recommended  for 
school  use,  and  in  what 
order  should  they  be 
taken  up?  These  are 
questions  often  ad- 
dressed to  me  by  teach- 
ers, and  I  will  attempt 
to  answer  them  briefly 
here. 

Of  the  thirty -seven 
(or  thirty -eight,  if  we 
include  the  Two  Noble 
Kinsmen)  plays  in  the 
standard  editions  of 
Shakespeare,  twenty 
at  least  are  suitable  for 
use  in  "mixed "schools. 
Among  the  "com- 
edies" are  The  Mer- 
chant of  Venice,  A  Midsummer-Nighfs  Dream,  As  You 
Like  It,  Twelfth  Night,  Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  The 
Tempest,  The  Winter  s  Tale,  and  The  Taming  of  the 
Shrew;  among  the  "tragedies,"  Macbeth,  Hamlet,  Lear, 
and  Romeo  and  Juliet ;  and  among  the  historical  plays, 


ARMS   OF   JOHN    SHAKESPEARE 


SCHOOL    COURSES  IN  SHAKESPEARE 

Julius  C&sar,  Coriolanus,  King  John,  Richard  II.,  Henry 
IV.  Part  I.,  Henry  V.,  Richard  III.,  and  Henry  VIII. 

Certain  plays,  like  Cymbeline,  Othello,  and  Antony  and 
Cleopatra,  are  not,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  commended  for 
"  mixed  "  schools  or  classes,  but  may  be  used  in  others  at 
the  discretion  of  the  teacher. 

If  but  one  play  is  read,  my  own  choice  would  be  The 
Merchant  of  Venice  ;  except  for  classical  schools,  where 
Julius  Ccesar  is  to  be  preferred.  All  the  leading  colleges 
now  require  one  or  more  plays  of  Shakespeare  as  part  of 
the  preparation  in  English,  and  Julius  Ccesar  is  almost  in- 
variably included  for  every  year. 

If  two  plays  can  be  read,  the  Merchant  and  Julius  Ccesar 
may  be  commended  ;  or  either  of  these  with  As  You  Like 
It,  or  with  Macbeth,  if  a  tragedy  is  desired.  Macbeth  is  the 
shortest  of  the  great  tragedies  (only  a  trifle  more  than 
half  the  length  of  Hamlet,  for  instance),  and  seems  to  me 
unquestionably  the  best  for  an  ordinary  school  course. 

For  a  selection  of  three  plays,  we  may  take  the  Merchant 
(or  Julius  CcBsar},  As  You  Like  It  (or  Twelfth  Night  or 
Much  Ado — the  other  two  of  the  trio  of "  Sunny  or  Sweet- 
Time  Comedies,"  as  Furnivall  calls  them),  and  Macbeth. 
An  English  historical  play  (King  John,  Richard  II.,  Henry 
IV.  Part  I.,  or  Henry  V.}  may  be  substituted  for  the  com- 
edy, if  preferred  ;  and  Hamlet  for  Macbeth,  if  time  permits 
and  the  teacher  chooses.  As  I  have  said,  Hamlet  is  about 
twice  as  long  as  Macbeth,  and  should  have  at  least  treble 
the  time  devoted  to  it. 

If  a  fourth  play  is  wanted,  add  The  Tempest  to  the  list. 
Macbeth  and  The  Tempest  together  (4061  lines,  as  given 
in  the  "Globe"  edition)  are  but  little  longer  than  Hamlet 
(3929  lines),  and  can  be  read  in  less  time  than  the  latter. 


SCHOOL   COURSES  IN  SHAKESPEARE 

For  a  fifth  play,  Hamlet,  Lear,  or  Coriolanus  may  be 
taken ;  or,  if  a  shorter  and  lighter  play  is  preferred,  the 
Midsummer-Night' 's  Dream.  In  a  course  of  five  plays,  I 
should  myself  put  this  first,  as  a  specimen  of  the  drama- 
tist's early  work.  Fora  course  of  five  plays  arranged  with 
special  reference  to  the  illustration  of  Shakespeare's 
career  as  a  writer,  the  following  may  be  commended  :  A 
Midsummer- Night's  Dream  (early  comedy) ;  Richard  II., 
Henry  IV.  Part  I.,  or  Henry  V.  (English  historical  period); 
As  You  Like  It,  Twelfth  Night,  or  Much  Ado  (later  com- 
edy) ;  Macbeth,  Hamlet,  or  Lear  (period  of  the  great  trage- 
dies) ;  and  The  Tempest  or  The  Winter  s  Tale  (the  latest 
plays,  or  "  romances,"  as  Dowden  aptly  terms  them). 

For  a  series  of  six  plays,  following  this  chronological 
order,  instead  of  one  English  historical  play  take  two  : 
Richard  III.,  Richard  II.,  or  King  John  (earlier  history, 
1 593-1 595),  and  Henry  IV.  Part  I.,  or  Henry  V.  (later  his- 
tory, or  "  history  and  comedy  united,"  1597-1599). 

Richard  III.  is  a  favorite  with  many  teachers  in  a 
course  of  three  or  four  plays;  but,  for  myself,  I  should 
never  take  it  up  unless  in  a  course  of  six  or  more,  and 
only  as  an  example  of  Shakespeare's  earliest  work — not 
later  than  1 593.  As  Oechelhauser  says,  "  Richard  III.  is 
the  significant  boundary-stone  which  separates  the  works 
of  Shakespeare's  youth  from  the  immortal  works  of  the 
period  of  his  fuller  splendor."  As  such  it  has  a  certain 
historical  interest  to  the  student  of  his  literary  career; 
but  this  seems  to  me  its  only  claim  to  attention.  I  am 
not  disposed,  however,  to  quarrel  with  those  who  think 
otherwise. 

To  return  to  our  courses  of  reading,  for  a  series  of  seven 
plays  I  would  insert  in  the  above  chronological  list  either 


SCHOOL   COURSES  IN  SHAKESPEARE 

Romeo  and  Juliet  (early  tragedy)  before  "early  history,"  or 
the  Merchant  (middle  comedy)  after  "early  history";  and 
for  a  series  of  eight  plays  I  would  include  both  these. 

Henry  VIII.  can  be  added  to  any  of  the  longer  series  as 
a  very  late  play,  of  which  Shakespeare  wrote  only  a  part, 
and  which  was  completed  by  Fletcher.  The  Taming  of 
the  Shrew  may  be  mentioned  incidentally  as  an  earlier 
play  that  is  interesting  as  being  Shakespeare's  only  in  part. 

In  closing,  let  me  commend  the  Sonnets  as  well  adapted 
to  give  variety  to  any  extended  course  in  Shakespeare. 
They  are  not  known  to  teachers,  or  to  cultivated  people 
generally,  as  they  should  be.  In  my  own  experience  as  a 
teacher,  I  have  found  that  young  people  always  get  inter- 
ested in  these  poems,  if  their  attention  is  once  called  to 
them.  I  once  gave  one  of  my  classes  an  informal  talk  on 
the  Sonnets,  merely  to  fill  an  hour  for  which  there  was  no 
regular  work,  owing  to  an  unexpected  delay  in  getting  copies 
of  the  play  we  were  about  to  begin.  Some  months  after- 
wards, when  I  asked  the  class  what  play  they  would  select 
for  our  next  reading  if  the  choice  were  left  to  them,  several 
of  the  girls  asked  if  we  could  not  take  up  the  Sonnets,  and 
the  request  was  endorsed  by  a  large  majority.  We  gave 
about  the  same  time  to  them  as  to  a  play,  and  I  have  never 
had  a  more  enjoyable,  or,  so  far  as  I  could  judge,  a  more 
profitable  series  of  lessons  with  a  class.  W.  J.  ROLFE. 

Rolfe's  Edition  of  Shakespeare,  in  40  volumes 

Edited  for  Schools,  with  Notes,  by  WILLIAM  J.  ROLFE, 
Litt.D.,  formerly  Head  Master  of  the  High-School,  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.  Copiously  Illustrated.  i6mo,  Flexible 
Cloth,  56  cents  per  volume  ;  Paper,  40  cents  per  volume. 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  Publishers,  New  York 


Hi 


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